to gird with the sword
Preserved but no longer current.
To raise to a peerage. It was the Saxon method of investiture to an earldom, continued after the Conquest. Thus, Richard I "girded with the sword" Hugh de Pudsey, the aged Bishop of Durham, making (as he said) "a young earl of an old prelate.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to gird with the sword” mean?
To raise to a peerage. It was the Saxon method of investiture to an earldom, continued after the Conquest. Thus, Richard I "girded with the sword" Hugh de Pudsey, the aged Bishop of Durham, making (as he said) "a young earl of an old prelate.
Is “to gird with the sword” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.