girdlestead

English

Etymology

From girdle +‎ stead.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɜː(ɹ)dəlˌstɛd/

Noun

girdlestead (plural girdlesteads)

1. (obsolete) That part of the body where the girdle is worn, i.e. the waist.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volumes (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

     sheathed, beneath his girdlestead

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1605 August (first performance), Geo[rge] Chapman, Ben Ionson, Ioh[n] Marston, Eastward Hoe. […], London: […] [George Eld] for William Aspley, published September 1605, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     divide yourselves into two halfs, just by the girdlestead

   • c. 1604–1626, doubtfully attributed to Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Faithful Friends”, in Henry [William] Weber, editor, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, in Fourteen Volumes: […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington;  […], published 1812, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     they have made me swell
     Above the girdlestead

References

• “girdlestead”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.