See Also: girdle(medicine)
girdle(dictionary)
girdle(2)(dictionary)
girdle(1)(dictionary)
pectoral girdle(medicine)
pelvic girdle(medicine)
thoracic girdle(medicine)
Hitzig's girdle(medicine)
girdle 1, noun(dictionary)
girdle 2, verb(dictionary)

girdle(1) (iou)



girdle noun1.
[Old English gyrdel = Middle Dutch gurdel (Dutch gordel), Old High German gurtil, -ila (German Gurtel), Old Norse gyreill, from Germanic base of GIRD verb1: see -LE1.]
A belt or cord worn around the waist to secure the clothing or as a means of carrying a purse or weapon. OE.
girdle of chastity a chastity belt. VENUS's girdle. put a girdle about go round, make a circuit of (the earth). turn one's girdle (rare, Shakes.) make a challenge. under one's girdle in subjection, under one's control.
E. Linklater A green dress and a girdle of twisted gold. J. Hawkes The gun and the gun's girdlethe holster, straps, stringswere visible.
b. A corset, esp. one which is elasticated and extends from the waist to the thighs. E20.
J. Masters She stood in the tiny bathroom..struggling into her brassiere and girdle.
Something which surrounds like a girdle. OE.
W. Macgillivray The horizon was bounded by a girdle of forest.
b. Something which confines or binds in. E17.
That part of the body round which a girdle is worn. ME-E18.
spec.
a. Anatomy & Zoology. The bony structure supporting (a) the arms, forelimbs, or pectoral fins (more fully shoulder girdle, pectoral girdle); (b) the legs, hind limbs, or ventral fins (more fully hip girdle, pelvic girdle). E17.
b. Architecture. A small circular band around a column. E18.
c. The part of a cut gem dividing the crown from the base and embraced by the setting. E19.
d. A ring round the trunk of a tree made by removing the bark. E19.
Comb.: girdlestead (long arch. rare) the part of the body round which a girdle is worn; the waist; girdle-tailed lizard any of various lizards of the family Cordylidae, esp. the genus Cordylus, which have the tail ringed with spiny scales and are found in southern Africa and Madagascar (also called zonure).