Stridan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An Old English verb meaning to quarrel, dispute or contend fiercely against an opponent in words or in combat
2. Archaic Old English term for arguing, struggling or contesting with someone in a bitter or forceful manner
3. Old English verb describing the act of contending, striving against a rival or disputing with another person

Etymology: Old English "strīdan" meant to quarrel, struggle or strive, and its Germanic relatives point to a physical sense of pulling or rubbing against something. The verb is recorded in Old English around the early medieval period and belongs to the same family as Old Norse "strītha" and Old High German "strītan", all words for contending or fighting. Its sense of physical friction, such as one thing pressing against another, is the older core, and the quarrelling sense grew out of the idea of two parties straining against each other. The verb did not survive into modern English. Its descendant, "strive", came into Middle English from Old French "estriver", and it is now the everyday word for the same kind of effort. "Strife" also descends from the same Germanic root, through Old French "estrif", so the Old English verb's contentious meaning lives on in those two words rather than in the verb itself.