girdle
/ˈɡɜːdl̩/US/ˈɡɝdl̩/
girdle noun: that which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference. Also the alternative form of griddle.
Noun
girdle (plural girdles)
- 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...
- 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
- A garment used to hold the abdomen, hips, buttocks, and/or thighs in a particular shape.
- The line of greatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting.
- A thin bed or stratum of stone.
- The clitellum of an earthworm.
- The removal or inversion of a ring of bark in order to kill or stunt a tree.
Verb
girdle (third-person singular simple present girdles, present participle girdling, simple past and past participle girdled)
- 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
- 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
Also used as
girdle is also the alternative form of griddle.
girdle meaning in Persian
girdle in Persian
- belt
- کمربند kamarband
Examples of girdle in a sentence
- from the world's girdle to the frozen pole1782, William Cowper, Expostulation:
- 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...
- 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:
Forms of girdle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | girdles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | girdles |
| present participle | girdling |
| past participle | girdled |
| past | girdled |
Origin of girdle
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”).
Words formed from girdle
Phrases with girdle
Words that rhyme with girdle
Questions about girdle
- What does girdle mean?
- Girdle means that which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference.
- What is girdle in Persian?
- Girdle in Persian is کمربند (kamarband). See Girdle meaning in Persian.
- How do you use girdle in a sentence?
- from the world's girdle to the frozen pole
- What part of speech is girdle?
- Girdle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce girdle?
- Girdle is pronounced /ˈɡɝdl̩/ (US).
- What is the plural of girdle?
- The plural of girdle is girdles.
Words near girdle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: girdle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-girdle.wav.
Cite this entry: “girdle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/girdle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.