Origin and history of stride

Middle English striden, from Old English stridan (past tense strad, past participle striden), "to straddle, mount" (a horse), from Proto-Germanic *stridanan (source also of Middle Low German strede "stride, strive;" Old Saxon stridian, Danish stride, Swedish strida "to fight," Dutch strijden, Old High German stritan, German streiten "to fight, contend, struggle," Old Norse striðr "strong, hard, stubborn, severe"). Boutkan gives it no IE etymology.

The sense of "walk with long or extended steps" in English is from c. 1200, usually implying haste. The figurative meaning "advance rapidly, make progress" is from c. 1600. The transitive sense of "pass over by a long step" is from 1570s. The meaning "sit astride on, straddle" is from mid-14c.

The senses having to do with walking and standing (compare astride) are found only in English and Low German, the Continental cognates mostly meaning "to fight, to struggle." OED tentatively offers that the shifted sense (if it is that) might be via the notion of "strong effort" involved in making long strides or striving forward.

"a step in walking," especially a long one, from Old English stride "a stride, a step," from the root of stride (v.). Compare Dutch strijd, Old High German strit, German Streit "fight, contention, combat," Swedish and Danish strid "combat, contention." For the different Germanic senses, see the verb.

It is also attested in Old English as a measure of distance, roughly the length of an adult human stride. The meaning "a standing with the legs apart, a straddle" is from 1590s. Strides (1889) was criminal slang for "trousers, pants, jeans."

In reference to animals (especially horses), it is attested by 1610s; hence by 19c. "regular uniform movement in a race," hence colloquial hit (one's) stride "attain in action the state or condition where one does best." In reference to persons, "a striding gait," by 1670s. To take (something) in stride (1832), i.e. "without change of gait," originally is of horses leaping hedges in the hunting-field; the figurative sense of this is attested from 1902. 

Jazz music stride tempo is attested from 1934, probably in reference to the left hand's alternating one-octave stretch from the single note to the chord; stride piano is by 1948, a style associated with Fats Waller and others.