girdle

girdle

English

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

Pronunciation

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

  • Audio (UK)

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• 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, 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.

Derived terms

• athlete's girdle
• 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 (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 (gādoru) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کەمەربەند‎ (ku) (kemerbend) 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 Russian: по́яс (ru) m (pójas), по́яс для чуло́к m (pójas dlja čulók) Sicilian: cinta f, cursettu m 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)

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.

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)

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

Finnish: kaulata

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, 155
2. 1874, Edward H. Knight, American Mechanical Dictionary
3. 1881, Rossiter W. Raymond, A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms

Anagrams

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