I could not find any sixpenny entrance and, fearing that the bazaar would be closed, I passed in quickly through a turnstile, handing a shilling to a weary-looking man. I found myself in a big hall girded at half its height by a gallery, surrounded by darkness in the greater part of the hall. Nearly all the stalls were closed. Based on the context clues, which word best defines the word gir

D. encompassed

Explanation:

This is the excerpt from James Joyce's "Araby".

The word bazaar might also be confusing, so let's just say it's a kind of open market.

So, we have a boy who rushes into that market and finds him self in a hall around which is a gallery with lots of empty, closed stalls.

That can be enough to infer the meaning of the word "girded" which is "surrounded", "encompassed" or "encircled".

we need to see the examples!