girdle

English

A mannequin wearing a bra and a girdle (sense 3).

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girdle

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dəl

Etymology 1

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.

Cognates

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäddel (“belt”), West Frisian gurdle, gurle, gurl (“belt”), Dutch gordel (“belt”), German Gürtel (“belt”), Yiddish גאַרטל (gartl, “belt”) (whence gartel, a doublet of girdle), Swedish gördel (“girdle”), Icelandic gyrðill (“girdle”).

Noun

girdle (plural girdles)

1. That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference
   • 1599 (date written), 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, [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, 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], chapter XIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, 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

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “IV. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     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.

Derived terms

• athlete's girdle
• Girdle Ness
• girdle scone
• girdle traverse
• notch girdle
• panty girdle
• pectoral girdle
• peel girdle
• pelvic girdle
• shoulder girdle
• Venus's girdle

Translations

circumference

Bulgarian: окръжение n (okrǎženie) Finnish: kehä (fi) French: enceinte (fr) f Galician: cincho m Georgian: გარშემოწერილობა (garšemoc̣eriloba) Greek: περιφέρεια (el) f (periféreia)

belt

Armenian: Old Armenian: կամար (kamar) Bulgarian: колан (bg) m (kolan), пояс (bg) (pojas) Catalan: faixa (ca) f Chinese: Cantonese: 束腰 (cuk1 jiu1) Mandarin: 束腰 (zh) (shùyāo) Danish: hofteholder c, strømpeholder c Dutch: gordel (nl) m Finnish: vyö (fi); sukkanauhavyö (belt to support hosiery) French: gaine (fr) f Georgian: სარტყელი (ka) (sarṭq̇eli) German: Hüfthalter m Greek: ζώνη (el) f (zóni), περίζωμα (el) n (perízoma) Ancient: ζώνη f (zṓnē), κεστός m (kestós) Italian: cintura (it) f, fascia (it) f, corsetto (it) m, busto (it) m Japanese: ガードル (ja) (gādoru) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کەمەربەند (kemerbend) Latin: cingulum n, cinctus m, zōna f, zōnula f, balteus m Maori: tātua, tautiti, pihepihe, pongi Navajo: sis Ottoman Turkish: كمر (kemer) Persian: کمربند (fa) (kamarband) Plautdietsch: Gort m Portuguese: cinta (pt) f, cinto (pt) m Romagnol: pazénzia f, pazenzia f Romanian: centură (ro) f Russian: по́яс (ru) m (pójas), по́яс для чуло́к m (pójas dlja čulók) Sicilian: cinta f, cursettu m Spanish: faja (es) f Swedish: gördel (sv) c Turkish: kemer (tr)

zodiac — see zodiac

line of greatest circumference of a diamond

Dutch: rondist Finnish: reunus (fi), uuma (fi) French: rondiste (fr) f Italian: cintura (it) f Sicilian: cintu m, cinta f

thin bed or stratum of stone

clitellum of an earthworm — see clitellum

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Hebrew: (please verify) מזיח (meizi'ach) (Biblical) Woiwurrung: (please verify) milargarin

Verb

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.
   • 1911, Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study, 24th edition, published 1939, page 108:

     The ordinary large reddish "hen hawks," which circle high above meadows, are doing great good to the farmer by feeding upon the mice and other creatures which steal his grain and girdle his trees.

Derived terms

• girdler
• ungirdle

Translations

to gird, encircle, or constrain by such means

Bulgarian: опасвам (bg) (opasvam), препасвам (bg) (prepasvam) Czech: opásat, obklíčit (cs), obkroužit Finnish: ympäröidä (fi), reunustaa (fi), piirittää (fi) Georgian: გარშემორტყმა (garšemorṭq̇ma), გარშემოხვევა (garšemoxveva) Greek: ζώνω (el) (zóno), περιζώνω (el) (perizóno) Italian: cingere (it), circondare (it) Ottoman Turkish: صارمق (sarmak)

to kill or stunt a tree by removing or inverting a ring of bark

Finnish: kaulata (fi)

Etymology 2

Noun

girdle (plural girdles)

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

References

1. Aeschylus (1926) “Persians”, in Herbert Weir Smyth, transl., Aeschylus, with an English translation […] , volume 1, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, section 155
2. Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Girdle”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
3. Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond (1881) “Girdle”, in A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms. […], Easton, Pa.: [American] Institute [of Mining Engineers], […], →OCLC.

Anagrams

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