Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Girdle

Girdle , noun

A griddle. [Scottish & Provincial English]

Girdle , noun

[Old English gurdel, girdel, Anglo-Saxon gyrdel, from gyrdan; akin to Dutch gordel, German gurtel, Icelandic gyr{not transcribed}ill. See Gird, transitive verb, to encircle, and compare Girth, n.]

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.
Within the girdle of these walls. — Shakespeare
Their breasts girded with golden girdles. — Rev. xv. 6
2.
The zodiac; also, the equator. [Poetic] — Bacon
From the world's girdle to the frozen pole. — Cowper
That gems the starry girdle of the year. — Campbell
3.
(Jewelry) The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting. See Illust. of Brilliant. — Knight
4.
(Mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone. — Raymond
5.
(Zoology) The clitellus of an earthworm.
Collocations (5)
Girdle bone (Anatomy) , the sphenethmoid. See under Sphenethmoid.
Girdle wheel , a spinning wheel.
Sea girdle (Zoology) , a ctenophore. See Venus's girdle, under Venus.
Shoulder or Pectoral or Pelvic or girdle (Anatomy) , See under Pectoral, and Pelvic.
To have under the girdle , to have bound to one, that is, in subjection.

Girdle , transitive verb

1.
To bind with a belt or sash; to gird. — Shakespeare
2.
To inclose; to environ; to shut in.
Those sleeping stones, That as a waist doth girdle you about. — Shakespeare
3.
To make a cut or gnaw a groove around (a tree, etc.) through the bark and alburnum, thus killing it. [United States]