girdle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A belt or sash worn around the waist.
2. n. Something that encircles like a belt.
3. n. An elasticized, flexible undergarment worn over the waist and hips, especially by women, to give the body a more slender appearance.
4. n. A band made around the trunk of a tree by the removal of a strip of bark.
5. n. The edge of a cut gem held by the setting.
6. n. Anatomy The pelvic or pectoral girdle.
7. v. To encircle with or as if with a belt. See Synonyms at surround.
8. v. To circle around: a ring of hills that girdled the city.
9. v. To remove a band of bark and cambium from the circumference of (a tree), usually in order to kill it.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A band, belt, or zone; something drawn round the waist of a person and fastened: as, a girdle of fine linen; a leathern girdle. The primary use of the girdle is to confine to the person the long flowing garments anciently, and still in some countries, worn by both men and women; and it is now frequently used in women's dress (commonly called a belt) and in military costume (a belt or sash). (See cestus.) The girdle has also served for the support of weapons, utensils, bags or pockets, etc. In the middle ages books were sometimes bound with a strip of flexible stuff hanging from one end of the volume, which could be drawn through the girdle and secured. Among many peoples, the girdle being large and loose, the scabbard of a sword or long dagger is passed through the girdle instead of being hung from it, a hook or projecting button serving to hold it in place. In ecclesiastical use the girdle is a cord with which the priest or other cleric binds the alb about the waist. Formerly it was flat and broad, and sometimes adorned with jewels; in the Roman Catholic Church it has been changed to a long cord with dependent extremities and tassels. It is regarded as a symbol of continence and self-restraint. It is usually of linen, though sometimes of wool, and is generally white, but sometimes colored to adapt it to the color of the other vestments.
2. n. Hence An inclosing circle, or that which encircles; circumference; compass; limit.
3. n. The zodiac (which see).
4. n. In gem-cutting; the line or edge that separates the upper from the lower part of a brilliant or other cut stone. It is parallel to the table and culet, and is the part held by the setting. See cut under brilliant.
5. n. In architecture, a small band or fillet round the shaft of a column.
6. n. In coal-mining, a thin bed of sandstone.
7. n. In anatomy, the osseous arch or bony belt by which either limb or diverging appendage is attached to the axial skeleton; the proximal segment of the appendicular skeleton.
8. n. In botany, a (usually) longitudinal belt formed by the overlapping edges of two valves of a diatom frustule.
9. n. A seaweed, Laminaria digitata, the divisions of whose fronds are strap-like.
10. To encircle or bind with a belt, cord, or sash; gird.
11. To make the circuit of; encompass; environ; inclose; shut in.
12. To draw a line round, as by marking or cutting; specifically, to cut a complete circle round, as a tree or a limb. In new countries, as North America, in clearing land of trees they are often girdled by cutting through the bark and into the sap-wood, so that they may die and ultimately fall by their own decay. Mice often girdle young trees by gnawing.
13. n. A griddle.
14. n. A ring made round the trunk of a tree by the removal of the bark either purposely or accidentally.
15. n. In earthworms, the cingulum or clitellum.

Wiktionary

1. n. That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference
2. n. A belt; especially, a belt, sash, or article of dress encircling the body usually at the waist, often used to support stockings or hosiery.
3. n. The zodiac; also, the equator.
4. n. The line of greatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting.
5. n. A thin bed or stratum of stone.
6. n. The clitellum of an earthworm.
7. n. Scotland, Northern England Alternative form of griddle.
8. v. transitive To gird, encircle, or constrain by such means.
9. v. transitive To kill or stunt a tree by removing or inverting a ring of bark.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Scot. & Prov. Eng. A griddle.
2. n. 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.
3. n. Poetic The zodiac; also, the equator.
4. n. (Jewelry) The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting. See Illust. of Brilliant.
5. n. (Mining) A thin bed or stratum of stone.
6. n. (Zoöl.) The clitellus of an earthworm.
7. v. To bind with a belt or sash; to gird.
8. v. To inclose; to environ; to shut in.
9. v. United States To make a cut or gnaw a groove around (a tree, etc.) through the bark and alburnum, thus killing it.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an encircling or ringlike structure
2. v. cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients
3. v. put a girdle on or around
4. n. a band of material around the waist that strengthens a skirt or trousers
5. n. a woman's close-fitting foundation garment