GIRDLING

Verb

girdling

present participle of girdle

Anagrams

• gridling, ridgling

Source: Wiktionary

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GIRDLE

Gir"dle, n.

Definition: A griddle. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]

Gir"dle, n. Etym: [OE. gurdel, girdel, AS. gyrdel, fr. gyrdan; akin to D. gordel, G. gürtel, Icel. gyr. 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)

Definition: The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting. See Illust. of Brilliant. Knight.

4. (Mining)

Definition: A thin bed or stratum of stone. Raymond.

5. (Zoöl.)

Definition: 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, and Pelvic, girdle. (Anat.) See under Pectoral, and Pelvic.

– To have under the girdle, to have bound to one, that is, in subjection.

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.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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