girdle

n. [ OE. gurdel, girdel, AS. gyrdel, fr. gyrdan; akin to D. gordel, G. gürtel, Icel. gyr&unr_;ill. See Gird, v. t., to encircle, and cf. Girth, n. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That which girds, encircles, or incloses; a circumference; a belt; esp., a belt, sash, or article of dress encircling the body usually at the waist; a cestus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Within the girdle of these walls. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their breasts girded with golden girdles. Rev. xv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The zodiac; also, the equator. [ Poetic ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

From the world's girdle to the frozen pole. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

That gems the starry girdle of the year. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Jewelry) The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting. See Illust. of Brilliant. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) The clitellus of an earthworm. [ 1913 Webster ]

Girdle bone (Anat.), the sphenethmoid. See under Sphenethmoid. --
Girdle wheel, a spinning wheel. --
Sea girdle (Zool.), a ctenophore. See Venus's girdle, under Venus. --
Shoulder,
Pectoral, and
Pelvic,
girdle. (Anat.) See under Pectoral, and Pelvic. --
To have under the girdle, to have bound to one, that is, in subjection. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Girdled p. pr. & vb. n. Girdling ] 1. To bind with a belt or sash; to gird. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To inclose; to environ; to shut in. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those sleeping stones,
That as a waist doth girdle you about. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make a cut or gnaw a groove around (a tree, etc.) through the bark and alburnum, thus killing it. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who girdles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A maker of girdles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) An American longicorn beetle (Oncideres cingulatus) which lays its eggs in the twigs of the hickory, and then girdles each branch by gnawing a groove around it, thus killing it to provide suitable food for the larvæ. [ 1913 Webster ]