girdle

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɝdl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɜːdl̩/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dəl

From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, from Proto-Germanic *gurdilaz (“girdle, belt”), equivalent to gird +‎ -le. Cognate with Dutch gordel (“belt”), German Gürtel (“belt”), Swedish gördel (“girdle”), Icelandic gyrðill (“girdle”), Yiddish גאַרטל‎ (gartl) (whence gartel).

girdle (plural girdles)

1. That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference
   • Shakespeare

     within the girdle of these walls

2. A belt or elasticated corset; especially, a belt, sash, or article of dress encircling the body usually at the waist, often used to support stockings or hosiery.
   • Bible, Revelation xv. 6

     their breasts girded with golden girdles

3. The zodiac; also, the equator.
   • Campbell

     that gems the starry girdle of the year

   • Cowper

     from the world's girdle to the frozen pole

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

4. The line of greatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

5. (mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Raymond to this entry?)

6. The clitellum of an earthworm.

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

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