▪ I. girdle, n.1
(ˈgɜːd(ə)l)
Forms: 1 gyrdel, 2, 4, 6 gerdell(e, 3 girrdell, 3–4 gurdel, (5 -il), 4 girdel, -ul, 4–5 girdil, 5–6 gir-, gyrdel(l(e, -ill(e, -yl(l(e, 5–7 gyrdle, 6 girddel, girthell, guyrdell, 4– girdle.
[OE. gyrdel (f. gyrdan to gird: see -le) = MDu. gurdel, gordel (Du. gordel), OHG. gurtil masc., gurtila fem. (MHG. and mod.G. gürtel), ON. gyrðill (OSw. giordel, Sw. gördel); the OE. gyrdels (= OS. gurdisl), f. the same grade of the root with a different suffix (see -els), is found earlier than gyrdel, but did not survive into ME.]
1. a. A belt worn round the waist to secure or confine the garments; also employed as a means of carrying light articles, esp. a weapon or purse.
In the general sense now only literary (the colloquial word being belt), but still commonly used for a cord or the like tied round the waist and having the ends hanging down.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. iii. 4 Se iohannes witodlice hæfde reaf of olfende hærum & fellenne gyrdel [c 1160 Hatton Gosp. gerdel] embe hys lendenu. c 1200 Ormin 3210 Hiss girrdell wass off shepess skinn Abutenn hise lendess. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 58/150 In stude of is gurdel al-so; with rope he him bond. 1340 Ayenb. 236 Þe gerdel aboue be-tocneþ chastete of bodie. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 64 By hire girdel heeng a purs of lether. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 16 My girdyl of ledir barryd with siluir with bokyll and pendaunth. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xlviii. 167 Gyrdelles of chaynes of golde and syluer. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. ii. 143 A purse at his girdle, with bullets, and his other necessaries. 1619 Boyle in Lismore Papers (1886) I. 216, I paid my cozen..for an embroydered girdle and Hangers. 1709 Steele & Addison Tatler No. 147 ¶ 3 This Cestus was a fine Party-coloured Girdle. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour III. 83 The nobility..wear also a black girdle about four fingers broad, and garnished with plates and buckles of silver. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. iv. 160 Here, Mother, tie My girdle for me, and bind up this hair. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. xx, Her white silk garment was bound by a golden girdle. 1881 Jowett Thucyd. I. 5 The combatants at boxing and wrestling matches wear girdles. 1890 Draper's Circular, Girdles are being used for all sorts and conditions of dresses for day wear. |
b. spec. (
Eccl.) (See
quot. 1866.)
| 1519 Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading 7 For frankensence ed iiij girdles iiij{supd}. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 49, ij vestementes..a girdell a fruntall and 3 albes. 1866 Direct. Angl. (ed. 3) 354 Girdle, the cord that girds the alb, usually made of white cotton about three yards long. |
c. in various phrases and proverbial sayings.
girdle of chastity = chastity belt;
girdle of Venus: See
Venus1 9.
Many of these refer to the practice of wearing keys hung at one's girdle.
(to have, hold) under one's girdle: in subjection, under one's control.
† ne'er an M by your girdle? = Haven't you the politeness to say ‘Master’?
† to give up the girdle: to confess oneself beaten.
† to turn one's girdle: ? to find harmless outlet for one's anger (see Schmidt and the commentators).
| a 1400–50 Alexander 181 Bot gefe þaim vp þe girdill vs gaynes noȝt ellis. Ibid. 758 And oþir recouyre me þi rewme or reche vp þe girdill. c 1530 R. Hilles Common-Pl. Bk. (1858) 140 All the keys hange not by one manys gyrdyll. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 203/2 If hee bee in Rome, and hath all Princes neckes vnder hys gyrdell. a 1553 Udall Royster D. iii. iii. (Arb.) 48 Neare an M by your girdle? 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence's Andria i. i. (1607) 11 Iwis it is long hence I must liue after anothers pleasure, with my head vnder anothers girdle. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingt. (Percy Soc.) 104, I know you are as good a man..as was ere girt in a girdle. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 143 Prince. I thinke he be angrie indeede. Claud. If he be, he knowes how to turne his girdle. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) Pref. 12 In whose Opinion they onely have the Keyes of Art at their girdles. 1660 Burney κέρδ. Δῶρον (1661) 80 He is curst in his Mothers Belly that would overtop such Princes, and bring their heads under his Girdle. 1667–8 Pepys Diary 14 Feb., Thereby [by allowing {pstlg}70,000 a year for ‘intelligence’] Cromwell carried the secrets of all the princes of Europe at his girdle. 1706 Fowler in Hearne Collect. 20 Jan. (O.H.S.) I. 166 He depended upon none, and..would not be under any one's Girdle. 1802 tr. Pallas's Trav. S. Prov. Russ. Empire I. 399 Their girls..are provided with laced stays, or a broad girdle made of untanned leather: this singular coat of mail is among the common people tightly sewed round the waist, but in the higher classes it is fastened with silver hooks, so that they are obliged to wear it till their wedding-night... Besides the girdle of chastity above mentioned there is another circumstance which contributes to preserve the elegant shape of the girls: they are sparingly nourished. 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. lxxvii. 31 A leader who carries half the Scottish Church under his girdle. |
d. = corset 2;
spec. a corset,
usu. elasticated, that does not extend above the waist.
orig. U.S.| 1925 Eaton's News Weekly 24 Oct. 19 Brassiere of rayon jersey silk and girdle of mercerized cotton and silk brocade with panels of elastic. 1928 Delineator Mar. 109 (Advt.), Girdle. 1932 Daily Mail 3 Oct. 10/1 A two-way stretch elastic girdle. 1942 D. Powell Time to be Born (1943) xi. 266 Go out and get yourself a girdle. 1957 H. Roosenburg Walls came tumbling Down 14 The girdle certainly didn't support her kidneys; it flapped..loosely around her. 1963 Punch 20 Mar. 426/3 His elevation from girdle ads to the glossies. |
† 2. a. The part of the body round which the girdle is fastened; only in phrases
beneath, above, up to, etc. the girdle.
Obs.| c 1205 Lay. 1325 Þe merminnen þæt beoð deor of muchele ginnen, wifmen hit þunchet fuliwis, bi-neoðe þon gurdle hit þuncheð fisc. 13.. K. Alis. 6449 Eren they haveth an ellen long, That byneothe theo gurdel hit hongith. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 3 A persone syttyng in the trone of god whiche from y⊇ gyrdell downwarde was all lyke fyre. 1624 Lord Keeper Williams in Fortesc. Papers (Camden) 203 And allreadye up to the gyrdle in his grave. 1632 Womens Rights 315 It was greater shame to strike vnder the girdle than it is now. 1691 Hartcliffe Virtues 75 It was a favourable and merry Conceit of a Cardinal of Rome, that there was no Law beneath the Girdle. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 124 This great man..married his own servant maid and then for excuse, said there was no wisdom below the girdle. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1607 Puritan iii. i, Ere the day Be spent to th' Girdle, thou shalt be set free. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xi. 291 The atmosphere cleared, and showed the mountains clothed to their girdles with snow. |
3. transf. uses of 1.
a. That which surrounds, as a girdle does the body;
† a zone.
† the girdle of the world; the ecliptic, the equator. Also of immaterial surroundings.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 260 We hataþ on leden quinque zonas, ðæt synd fif gyrdlas. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 63 Five..zones..we may aptly call them equidistant places, or Girdles. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, Prol. 19 Suppose within the Girdle of these Walls Are now confined two mightie Monarchies. 1626 Bacon Sylva §398 The Great Brizes, which the Motion of the Aire in great Circles, (such as are vnder the Girdle of the World) produceth. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 416 The Rhiphean Mountains encompass them..which..they call the Girdle of their Land. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 322 Five Girdles bind the Skies, the torrid Zone Glows with the passing and repassing Sun. c 1700 J. Lawson in Harper's Mag. (1883) Feb. 419/1 A delicious country..placed in that girdle of the world which affords wine, oil, fruit. 1781 Cowper Expost. 20 The billows roll, From the world's girdle to the frozen pole. ― Charity 86 Trade is the golden girdle of the globe. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xvii. 219 The horizon was bounded by a girdle of forests. 1847–8 H. Miller First Impr. viii. (1857) 133 The quick, smart patter of hammers sounds incessantly, in one encircling girdle of din. 1875 Merivale Gen. Hist. Rome (1877) i. 5 The Palatine hill..the first nucleus of the Roman Empire, lay in the centre of a girdle of eminences. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 321 Among good and holy men love would still be the girdle of perfectness. |
† b. to put (make, cast) a girdle (round) about: to go round, make the circuit of (the earth).
Obs.| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 175 Ile put a girdle about the earth, in forty minutes. 1612 Dekker If it be not good Wks. 1873 III. 277 About the world My trauailes make a girdle. 1621 Middleton Sun in Aries Wks. (Bullen) VII. 342 Sir Francis Drake..did cast a girdle about the world. c 1626 Dick of Devon ii. v. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 43 They would have thought Themselves as famous as their Country⁓man That putt a girdle round about the world. |
c. That which confines or binds in; a restraint, limit.
| a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Faithf. Friends iv. iv, To all Thy thoughts, thy wishes, and thine actions, No power shall put a girdle. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 38 The sixt Persecution..[was] limited..to a short time, (for it was precinct with a triennial girdle). 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 221 But suppose it any way possible to limit sinne, to put a girdle about that Chaos. 1833 I. Taylor Fanat. vi. 193 The iron girdle of a solemn and irrevocable oath. |
4. spec. a. A kind of sea-weed,
Laminaria saccharina.
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 27 Cingulum..maye be named in englishe, fysshers gyrdle or sea gyrdel. 1551 ― Herbal i. K iv b, Ther is a certayne kynde of sewrake with a brode leafe, of a grene color, to the whyche sum geue the name of a leeke, other call this gyrdell. |
b. Anat. Applied to various parts in the structure of animal bodies; in modern use chiefly of the bony supports for the upper and lower limbs, which in Vertebrata are respectively called the
shoulder girdle (or
pectoral girdle) and
pelvic (or hip) girdle.
| 1601 Househ. Ord. 296 The cheife clerke of the kitchen hath for his fee all the girdles of fresh sturgeon spent within the house. 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. iii. i. (1678) 56 Under the region of the navel, lies the girdle or upper part of the Kall. 1711 Phil. Trans. XXVII. 352 The last is very like our English Hedge Snail, but without Girdles, and has a small Navel. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 109 As a powerful bony girdle, it [the pelvis] affords articulation to the abdominal extremities. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. iv. 138 When a leech is impregnated, an enlargement takes place around the sexual apertures, which has received the name of the girdle or clitellum. 1883 Martin & Moale Vertebr. Dissect. ii. 119 The Shoulder Girdle is made up of a coracoid, clavicle, and scapula on each side. Ibid. 122 The Pelvic Girdle is composed of the ilium, ischium, and os pubis on each side. 1891 Science (N.Y.) 21 Aug. 107/2 The fins, girdles, gill arches, scales, and membrane bones are all imperfectly developed or wanting [in eels]. |
c. The line or rim dividing the two faces of a brilliant (see
quots.).
| 1819 Rees Cycl., Girdle, among Jewellers, the line which encompasses the stone parallel to the horizon; or which determines the greatest horizontal expansion of the stones. 1861 Macm. Mag. III. 184/2 The rim where the setting takes hold, or, as we have described it, the junction of the bases of the pyramids, is called the girdle. 1883 A. H. Church Precious Stones iii. 21 The ‘girdle’ or edge bounding the widest part of the stone, divides the crown from the base, and is concealed in part..by the mounting or setting. |
d. Arch. (See
quot. 1842.)
| 1727 Boyer Dict. Angl.-Fr., Ceinture, The Cincture, or Girdle of a Pillar. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Girdle, in Architecture. See Cincture. 1842 Francis Dict. Arts, Girdle, a small circular band around the shaft of a column. |
e. Mining. A stratum or bed of stone or other substance occurring irregularly. (
Cf. band n.2 12.)
| 1819 Rees Cycl., Girdle, in Mining, is the name used in Cumberland, and some other counties, to denote the uncertain strata, or chance beds, of stone or different substances that are met with in some districts. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Girdles, in mining, are beds from about three inches to two feet or more in thickness; but the term is usually applied to beds varying from three inches to nine or ten inches thick. |
f. Bot.| 1875 Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 368 When the growth is normal..the three segments which form a cycle always become arranged into a disc transverse to the stem, their outer surfaces thus forming an annular zone or girdle. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 381 The border of tracheides of each leaf is expanded into a low wing, which runs to meet that of the opposite leaf, and unites with it to form a transverse girdle. |
g. A belt or ring made round the trunk of a tree by the removal of the bark (
cf. girdle v. 2).
| 1825 J. Lorain Pract. Husb. 63 All of them eventually die, provided the girdle be carefully cut through the sap into the heart-wood of the tree. 1896 P. A. Bruce Econ. Hist. Virginia I. 150 The method employed by the Indians for the removal of the forest..consists in running a girdle around the trunks of the largest trees by cutting away the bark..the object of this being to intercept the flow of the sap. 1897 Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 289, Fig. 45 shows a deposit of woody matter above a girdle caused by a label wire. |
5. pin and girdle: a swindling game, ‘prick the garter’ (see
garter n. 5, 7).
| 1710 Palmer Proverbs 209 'Tis astonishing that a young gentleman, bred five or six years in our own universities, shou'd..be drawn in..by those common known cheats of the pin and girdle. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
girdle-bell,
girdle-belt,
girdle-buckle,
girdle-compass,
girdle-maker;
girdle-like,
girdle-shaped adjs.; also
girdle-bed,
-bone (see
quots.);
† girdle-glass, a mirror carried at the girdle;
girdle-hanger (see
hanger2 4 b);
girdle-pains = girdle-sensation;
girdle-sensation,
-wheel (see
quots.).
| 1880 C. T. Clough in Geol. Mag. 443 *Girdle Beds.—Alternations of thin sandstones and sandy shales. |
| 1810 Southey Kehama xiv. viii, The sweet music of their *girdle-bells. |
| 1697 Dryden æneid ix. 488 Nor did his [Euryalus] Eyes less longingly behold The *Girdle-Belt, with Nails of burnish'd Gold. |
| 1871 Huxley Anat. Vertebr. Anim. 175 The Frog's skull is characterised by the development of a very singular cartilage bone, called by Cuvier the os en ceinture or *girdle-bone. |
| 1790 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 207/1 A *girdle-buckle about the bigness of a crown-piece was also dug up. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Girdle compasse, or in the compasse, or wyth the compasse of a gyrdle, zotim [? read zonatim]. |
| a 1652 Brome New Acad. iv. ii. (1658) 85 How his [the man's] pocket-combe..and her [the woman's] *Girdle-glasse, To order her black pashes, came together. |
| 1921 Brit. Mus. Return 66 Anglo-Saxon iron *girdle-hanger from Cliffe, near Rochester. 1923 C. Fox Archaeol. Cambr. Region vi. 271 Girdle hangers. The simplest forms are a close copy in bronze of the housewife's keys of iron (a Roman type), the possession of which they doubtless symbolized. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 23 June 1/3 It has a smart bodice, with..a *girdle-like arrangement of cord in front. |
| 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 686/20 Hic corrigiarius, *gyrdil-maker. |
| 1897 Hughes Mediterr. Fever iii. 122 Mental irritability and sleeplessness are combined with..*girdle-pains [etc.]. |
| 1885 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Girdle-sensation, the feeling of having a string or a broad band tied round the body or one of the limbs. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 977 It was followed by atrophy of the muscles, impairment of vision..girdle sensation [etc.]. |
| Ibid. III. 521 The ulcer [of the stomach] is..occasionally, if of very long-standing, *girdle-shaped. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 287/1 *The Girdle Wheel is a [Spinning] Wheel so little that a Gentle-woman may hang it at her Girdle..and Spin with it, though she be walking about. |
▪ II. girdle, n.2 north. and
Sc. (
ˈgɜːd(ə)l)
Forms: 6
girdil(e,
-ill, (
kyrdill),
gyrdle, 6–
girdle, (9
dial. gurdle).
[var. griddle by metathesis of r.] A circular plate of iron which is suspended over the fire and upon which cakes are baked or toasted. (
Cf. griddle n.).
| a 1400 Burgh Laws cxvi. (Sc. Stat. I), Alsua he sall hafe..a brasyn pot a pan a rostyng yrne a girdill [etc.]. 1477 Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 408 A gyrdil, a bakbrede, a brewyne fat. 1533 Ibid. 451 Ane kamery stok, ane girdill, ane baik bread. 1563 Richmond. Wills (Surtees 1853) 169 A gyrdle, a brandrett. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scotl. i. 95 Thay make breid after casting it vpon the girdle. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 106 Oatmeal..which girdles hot bakes And turns to bannocks, and to oat cakes. 1708 S. Molyneux in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 39 A large Girdle about 20 Pounds Weight..was found lying on the Floor. 1859 Atkinson Walks & Talks Schoolboys (1892) 343 Bilberry jam, and flaky cakes hot from the girdle. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xx. 196 We lay on the bare top of a rock, like scones upon a girdle. |
b. Phrase.
like a hen on a het (hot) girdle: indicating a state of great uneasiness or discomfort.
| 1787 Burns Let. to W. Nicol 1 June, It's true she's..tipper-taipers when she taks the gate first, like..a hen on a het girdle. 1814 Scott Wav. lxxi, The Bailie..had all this while shifted from one foot to another with great impatience ‘like a hen’, as he afterwards said, ‘upon a het girdle’. [1849 C. Brontë Shirley xxxi. 448 His gait..emulated that of a hen treading a hot girdle.] |
c. Comb., as
girdle-cake (
cf. griddle-cake),
girdle-maker,
girdle-making,
girdle-smith.
| 1802 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 25 Aunt Ester spoil'd the *gurdle ceakes. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) I. xlii. 361 Each man had..a plate of metal on which he could bake his girdle-cakes. 1885 J. Runciman Skippers & Sh. 49 We had a girdle cake for tea. |
| 1599 Charter Jas. VI, The *girdelmakers inhabitants within the bruch of Culross. 1833 Carlyle Cagliostro ii. Misc. (1840) IV. 376 She was the daughter of a Girdle-maker. |
| 1885 D. Beveridge Culross & Tulliallan II. xix. 93 The *girdlemaking monopoly. |
| 1661 Culross Town Rec., Patrick Sands *girdle-smythe. |
Hence
ˈgirdleful, as much as a girdle can hold.
| 1895 J. Wood in Scot. Antiq. X. 76 The goodwife was baking, and had a girdleful of bannocks on the fire. |
▪ III. girdle, v. (
ˈgɜːd(ə)l)
[f. girdle n.1] 1. a. trans. To surround with a girdle. Also
to girdle about, in, round. (Chiefly
transf. and
fig.)
| 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. xv. 39 Silke..even such wherewith he was accustomed to girdle himselfe. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. iii. 20 Spurre to the rescue of the Noble Talbot, Who now is girdled with a waste of Iron, And hem'd about with grim destruction. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres vi. i. 184 There is set down..how many shot will girdle or impale the battell of pikes. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. i. 2 O thou Wall That girdles in those Wolues, diue in the earth, And fence not Athens. 1635 W. Barriffe Mil. Discip. xcv. (1643) 306 The Hollow Square, girdled with shot, is a figure to bee used in times of necessity. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 196 Wooden Pipes..are ferriled and girdled with Iron. a 1782 Cowper Heroism 6 No thunders shook with deep intestine sound The blooming groves that girdled her around. 1808 Scott Marm. ii. ix, The tide did now its floodmark gain, And girdled in the Saint's domain. 1848 C. Brontë J. Eyre (1857) 106 The bright and velvet lawn closely girdling the grey base of the mansion. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls (1871) I. 252 That circumference of blue hills which stand afar off, girdling Rome about. 1871 Farrar Witn. Hist. ii. 55 Let us mark how the hills that girdle them are scattered with the ruined enginery of assaults. 1888 A. Meynell in Art Jrnl. LI. 139/2 A tea-gown, waistless, and girdled low down. |
b. To travel round.
Cf. girdle n.1 3 b.
| 1901 F. H. Burnett Making of Marchioness ii. vi. 180 Agatha Norman, at present joyously girdling the globe with her bridegroom. |
2. a. To cut through the bark of a tree in a circle extending round the trunk, or to remove a certain breadth of bark in a similar circle, either for the purpose of killing the tree or for that of rendering it more fruitful; sometimes in
pass. of injuries caused accidentally,
e.g., by a tight wire or by the gnawing of rabbits. Also with
round.
| 1662 Winthrop in Birch Hist. Roy. Soc. (1756) I. 101 Several trials have been made..by girdling the tree (as they call it) cutting off some of the bark round, and a little into the wood of the tree, about six feet from the ground. 1766 J. Bartram Jrnl. 11 Feb. in Stork Acc. E. Florida 65 There still remain..great trees girdled round to kill them, which are now very sound, tho' above 60 years since they were cut. 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New Hampsh. III. 211 If the trees were girdled and left to die standing, the timber would be much superior to any which is cut whilst alive. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng. etc. (1821) II. 459 They accordingly cut down some trees, and girdle others. 1871 H. Macmillan True Vine v. (1872) 212 The barren branch is girdled or ringed—that is, a narrow strip of its bark is removed all round the branch. 1897 Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 288 Trees which are girdled should have the injured parts pared down to live tissue. |
b. Surg. (See
quot.)
| 1883 Wilder & Gage Anat. Techn. 197 (Cent.) When the skin, especially of a limb, is divided by an incision encircling the part, the latter is said to be girdled. |
Hence
ˈgirdled ppl. a.| a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng. etc. (1821) II. 126 There is a sufficient number of girdled trees standing..to give the new settlements a disagreeable appearance. 1883 E. P. Roe in Harper's Mag. Dec. 56/1 Girdled trees soon made it evident that rabbits were the depredators. 1888 [see girdle v. 1]. 1940 E. S. Gardner Case of Silent Partner xii. 196 Her tightly girdled, snappily dressed figure. 1961 A. Smith East Enders vii. 119 Women with plucked eyebrows and men with girdled waists. |