Gir"dle , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Girdled (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Girdling (?).]
1. To bind with a belt or sash;
to gird. Shak.
2. To inclose; to environ; to shut in.
Those sleeping stones,
That as a waist doth girdle you about.
Shak.
3. To make a cut or gnaw a groove around (a tree, etc.) through the bark and alburnum, thus killing it. [U. S.]
Gir"dle , n. [OE.
gurdel, girdel, AS. gyrdel, fr.
gyrdan; akin to D. gordel, G. gürtel, Icel. gyr&?;ill. See Gird, v. t., to encircle, and cf. 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.
Shak.
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.
(Zoöl.) The clitellus of an earthworm.
Girdle bone
(Anat.), the sphenethmoid. See under Sphenethmoid. -- Girdle wheel, a spinning wheel. -- Sea girdle (Zoöl.),
a ctenophore. See Venus's
girdle, under Venus. -- Shoulder, Pectoral, ∧ Pelvic, girdle.
(Anat.) See under
Pectoral, and Pelvic. -- To have under the girdle, to have bound
to one, that
is, in subjection.
Gir"dle (?), n. A griddle. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]
Hear it pronounced