Etymology From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, from Proto-West Germanic *gurdil, from Proto-Germanic *gurdilaz (“girdle, belt”), equivalent to gird + -le. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäddel (“belt”), West Frisian gurdle, gurle, gurl (“belt”), Dutch gordel (“belt”), German Gürtel (“belt”), Yiddish גאַרטל (gartl, “belt”) (whence gartel, a doublet of girdle), Swedish gördel (“girdle”), Icelandic gyrðill (“girdle”).
That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference.
the girdle of the world
Suppose within the girdle of these walls Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, prologue]:
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from the world's girdle to the frozen pole1782, William Cowper, Expostulation:
In yonder pensile orb, and every sphere that gems the starry girdle of the year1799, Thomas Campbell, Pleasures of Hope:
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A belt or sash at the waist, often used to support stockings or hosiery.
And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 15:6:
O Queen, most exalted of Persia's deep-girdled women, venerable mother of Xerxes, wife of Darius, all hail!Aeschylus, The Persians 155
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She therefore assumed the novice's garb, so universally worn by young Italians—a robe of black silk, only fastened round the waist by a girdle.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 109:
Her little chambers drip with flower-like red, Her girdles, and the chaplets of her head, Her armlets and her anklets; with her feet She tramples all that winepress of the dead.1862-1866, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Laus Veneris:
Tradition credits John the Baptist with wearing a girdle fashioned of wormwood, while he was in the wilderness.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 1:
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A garment used to hold the abdomen, hips, buttocks, and/or thighs in a particular shape.
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The line of greatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting.
Etymology From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, from Proto-West Germanic *gurdil, from Proto-Germanic *gurdilaz (“girdle, belt”), equivalent to gird + -le. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäddel (“belt”), West Frisian gurdle, gurle, gurl (“belt”), Dutch gordel (“belt”), German Gürtel (“belt”), Yiddish גאַרטל (gartl, “belt”) (whence gartel, a doublet of girdle), Swedish gördel (“girdle”), Icelandic gyrðill (“girdle”).
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To gird, encircle, or constrain by such means.
The Equator, as everyone knows, is an imaginary line or circle girdling the Earth half-way between the North and South poles.1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning, page 36:
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To kill or stunt a tree by removing or inverting a ring of bark.
The ordinary large reddish "hen hawks," which circle high above meadows, are doing great good to the farmer by feeding upon the mice and other creatures which steal his grain and girdle his trees.1911, Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study, 24th edition, published 1939, page 108: