Dictionary

gird up one's loins en · VERB

Etymology

Likely a Hebraism, often used in the King James Bible (e.g., 2 Kings 4:29). Literally referred to the need to strap a belt around one's waist, i.e. when getting up, in order to avoid the cloak falling off; or otherwise before battle, to free the legs for running.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To prepare oneself for something demanding.
   • Man came into this world, not to sit down and muse, not to befog himself with vain subtleties, but to gird up his loins and to work. 1857, Herman Melville, chapter 37, in The Confidence Man:
   • Then Tom girded up his loins, so to speak, and went to work to “get his verses.” 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter IV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 42:
   • King Gyanendra must gird up his loins and prepare himself for all exigencies. 2004, "Editorial," nepalnews.com (Nepal), vol. 24, no. 6 (Aug 3-19)
   • Then Susan said briskly, "Well, we must just gird up our loins and pitch in." 1920, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 9, in Rilla of Ingleside:

Forms

Relateds

tighten one's belt · batten down the hatches

Synonyms

roll up one's sleeves · steel oneself · suck it up · brace oneself · shape up · eat one's Wheaties

Translations (8)

pl szykować się (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · hu nekigyürkőzik (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · hu nekikészül (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · hu felköti a gatyát (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · ru перепоя́сать чре́сла (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · hu összeszedi magát (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · sv omgjorda sina länder (to prepare oneself for something demanding) · hu felköti a nadrágszíjat (to prepare oneself for something demanding)