Gir"dle (?), n.
A griddle.
[Scot. & Prov. Eng.]
© Webster 1913.
Gir"dle, n. [OE. gurdel, girdel, AS. gyrdel, fr. gyrdan; akin to D. gordel, G. gurtel, Icel. gyrill. 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. Zool.
The clitellus of an earthworm.
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, ∧ Pelvic, girdle. Anat. See under Pectoral, and Pelvic. -- To have under the girdle, to have bound to one, that is, in subjection.
© Webster 1913.
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.]
© Webster 1913.