bestride

verb

Etymology: From Middle English bestriden, from Old English bestrīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *bistrīdan; equivalent to be- + stride. Compare Dutch bestrijden, German bestreiten.

1. To be astride something, to stand over or sit on with legs on either side, especially to sit on a horse.

   “& thou were the truest frende to thy louar that euer bestrade hors "And thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrad horse"”

   “But fleeter far the pinions of the Wind, / Which from Siberian caves the monarch freed, / And sent him forth, with squadrons of his kind, / And bade the Snow their ample backs bestride, / And to the battle ride.”

2. To stride over, or across.
3. To dominate.

   “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a Colossus[…].”

   “He looked up again at the portrait of Big Brother. The colossus that bestrode the world!”