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)

    (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, 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!

   • 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

   • 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:

     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.
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.

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 (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 (ckb) (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

Etymology 2

Noun

girdle (plural girdles)

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

Anagrams

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