pret. bestrid; pp. bestrid

To stride over; to stand or sit with any thing between the legs, or with the legs extended across; as, to bestride the world, like a colossus; to bestride a horse.

To step over; as, to bestride a threshold. Bestriding sometimes includes riding, or defending, as Johnson remarks; but the particular purposes to the act, which depend on the circumstances of the case, can hardly be reduced to definition.