Girdle
(Gir"dle) n. A griddle. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]
Girdle
(Gir"dle), n. [OE. gurdel, girdel, AS. gyrdel, fr. gyrdan; akin to D. gordel, G. gürtel, Icel. gyrill.
See Gird, v. t., to encircle, and cf. Girth, n.]
1. That which girds, encircles, or incloses; a circumference; a belt; esp., a belt, sash, or article of dress
encircling the body usually at the waist; a cestus.
Within the girdle of these walls.
Shak.
Their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev. xv. 6. 2. The zodiac; also, the equator. [Poetic] Bacon.
From the world's girdle to the frozen pole.
Cowper.
That gems the starry girdle of the year.
Campbell. 3. (Jewelry) The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the
setting. See Illust. of Brilliant. Knight.
4. (Mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone. Raymond.
5. (Zoöl.) The clitellus of an earthworm.
Girdle bone (Anat.), the sphenethmoid. See under Sphenethmoid. — Girdle wheel, a spinning
wheel. — Sea girdle (Zoöl.), a ctenophore. See Venus's girdle, under Venus. — Shoulder, Pectoral,
&and Pelvic, girdle. (Anat.) See under Pectoral, and Pelvic. — To have under the girdle, to
have bound to one, that is, in subjection.
Girdle
(Gir"dle), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Girdled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Girdling ]
1. To bind with a belt or sash; to gird. Shak.
2. To inclose; to environ; to shut in.
Those sleeping stones,
That as a waist doth girdle you about.
Shak. 3. To make a cut or gnaw a groove around (a tree, etc.) through the bark and alburnum, thus killing it.
[U. S.]
Girdler
(Gir"dler) n.
1. One who girdles.
2. A maker of girdles.
3. (Zoöl.) An American longicorn beetle (Oncideres cingulatus) which lays its eggs in the twigs of the
hickory, and then girdles each branch by gnawing a groove around it, thus killing it to provide suitable
food for the larvæ.
Girdlestead
(Gir"dle*stead) n. [Girdle + stead place.]
1. That part of the body where the girdle is worn. [Obs.]
Sheathed, beneath his girdlestead.
Chapman.
