girdle

English

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɝdl̩/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɜːdl̩/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dəl

Etymology 1

From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, 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 English gartel), 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:

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

3. A garment used to hold the abdomen, hips, butt, 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

   • Template:RQ:Bacon NH

     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.

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

6. (mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone.
7. The clitellum of an earthworm.
8. The removal or inversion of a ring of bark in order to kill or stunt a tree.

Translations

circumference

• Bulgarian: окръжение n (okrǎženie)
• Finnish: kehä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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: 束たば腰こし (cuk¹ jiu¹)

  Mandarin: 束たば腰こし (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: ,

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: cintura (it) f, fascia (it) f, corsetto (it) m, busto (it) m
• Japanese: ガードル (gādoru)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کەمەربەند (ckb) (kemerbend)

• Maori: tātua, tautiti, pihepihe, pongi
• Navajo: sis
• Persian: کمربند (fa) (kamarband)
• Plautdietsch: Gort m
• Portuguese: cinta (pt) f, cinto (pt) m
• Russian: по́яс (ru) m (pójas), по́яс для чуло́к m (pójas dlja čulók)
• Swedish: gördel (sv) c
• Turkish: kemer (tr)

zodiac — see zodiac

line of greatest circumference of a diamond

• Dutch: rondist
• Finnish: reunus (fi), uuma (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: rondiste f
• Italian: cintura (it) f

thin bed or stratum of stone

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Derived terms

• notch girdle
• peel girdle

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.

Translations

to gird, encircle, or constrain by such means

• Bulgarian: опасвам (bg) (opasvam), препасвам (bg) (prepasvam)
• Czech: opásat, obklíčit, obkroužit
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: ympäröidä (fi), reunustaa (fi), piirittää (fi)
• Georgian: გარშემორტყმა (garšemorṭq̇ma), გარშემოხვევა (garšemoxveva)
• Greek: ζώνω (el) (zóno), περιζώνω (el) (perizóno)

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

• Finnish: kaulata
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Etymology 2

Noun

girdle (plural girdles)

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

Anagrams

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