noun
- Archaic a belt or sash for the waist
- anything that surrounds or encircles
- ☆ a woman's elasticized undergarment for supporting or molding the waist and hips
- the rim of a cut gem
- ☆ a ring made by removing bark around the trunk of a tree, so as to kill it
- Anat. a bony arch or encircling structure supporting the limbs: the pelvic girdle
Origin:
ME girdil < OE gyrdel < base of gyrdan (see gird): akin to Ger gürtel
transitive verb girdled, girdling
- to surround or bind, as with a girdle
- to encircle
- ☆ to remove a ring of bark from (a tree) as by cutting or chewing