girdle

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɝdl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɜːdl̩/

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dəl

From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, from Proto-West Germanic *gurdil, from Proto-Germanic *gurdilaz (“girdle, belt”), equivalent to gird +‎ -le.

girdle (plural girdles)

1. That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, prologue]:

     Suppose within the girdle of these walls
     Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies

2. A belt or sash at the waist, often used to support stockings or hosiery.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Revelation 15:6:

     And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles

   • Aeschylus, The Persians 155:[1]

     O Queen, most exalted of Persia's deep-girdled women, venerable mother of Xerxes, wife of Darius, all hail!

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 109:

     She therefore assumed the novice's garb, so universally worn by young Italians—a robe of black silk, only fastened round the waist by a girdle.

3. A garment used to hold the abdomen, hips, buttocks, and/or thighs in a particular shape.
4. The zodiac; also, the equator.
   • 1799, Thomas Campbell, Pleasures of Hope

     that gems the starry girdle of the year

   • 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation

     from the world's girdle to the frozen pole

   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “4. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:

     under the girdle of the world

5. The line of greatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting[2].
6. (mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone[3].
7. The clitellum of an earthworm.
8. The removal or inversion of a ring of bark in order to kill or stunt a tree.

girdle (third-person singular simple present girdles, present participle girdling, simple past and past participle girdled)

1. (transitive) To gird, encircle, or constrain by such means.
   • 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning, page 36:

     The Equator, as everyone knows, is an imaginary line or circle girdling the Earth half-way between the North and South poles.

2. (transitive) To kill or stunt a tree by removing or inverting a ring of bark.

girdle (plural girdles)

1. (Scotland, Northern English) Alternative form of griddle

• Dilger, Gilder, gilder, girled, glider, gridle, regild, ridgel