Definition of "astride" []

• With a leg on each side: riding astride. (adverb)
• With the legs wide apart. (adverb)
• On or over and with a leg on each side of. (preposition)
• Situated on both sides of. (preposition)
• Lying across or over; spanning. (preposition)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He gave me quite a lecture on the dangers of the side-saddle, and said very earnestly that women ought to ride "astride" (at that time this was a thing _incompris_ in England)."
• "His base sat astride the York River, including Yorktown on the south bank and Gloucester Point on the north."
• "Bring back the virtuous knight in his armor, astride a noble steed."