gir ding-hook 
girding-hook (ger'ding-kuk), . 
hook. Davies. 
The oats, oh the oats, 'tis the ripening of the oats ! 
All the clay they have been dancing with their Hakes of 
white, 
Waiting for tin/ iiii'iiimj-lntok to lie the nags' delight. 
R. D. ttliu-kiuon', Exmoor Harvest Song (Lorna 
[Doone, xxix.). 
girdle 1 (ger'dl), H. [Early mod. E. also gir- 
thcll; < ME. i/irtlel, gerdel, gurdel, < AS. yynlct, 
also gi/rdels (= OFries. tjerdel = D. gordel = 
MLG. gordel = OHG. gurtil, gurtila, MHG. G. 
giirtel = Icel. yynlliill = Sw. gordel), a girdle, < 
gyrdan, gird: see gird 1 ."} 1. 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 ancient- 
ly, and still in some countries, worn by both men and 
women ; and it is now frequently used in women's dress 
(commonly called a licit) and in military costume (a belt 
or saih). (See cest iwl . ) 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 stutt' hanging from one end of the volume, which 
could be drawn through the girdle and secured. Among 
iniiny peoples, the girdle being large and loose, the scab- 
bard 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 con- 
tinence 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. 
And by hire girdel heng a pure of lether 
Tasseled with grene and perled with latonn. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 64. 
There besyde is the place, where onre Lady appered to 
seynt Thomas the Apostle, aftre hire Assumptioun, and 
zaf him hire Gyrdylle. Mandecille, Travels, p. 97. 
The monk was fat, 
And, issuing shorn and sleek, 
Would twist his girdle tight, and pat 
The girls upon the cheek. 
Tennyson, Talking Oak. 
Hence 2. An inclosing circle, or that which 
encircles; circumference; compass; limit. 
I'll put a girdle round about the earth 
In forty minutes. Shak., it. H. D., II. 2. 
Within the girdle of these walls. 
Shak., Hen. V., i. (cho.). 
To all 
Thy thoughts, thy wishes, and thine actions, 
No power shall put a girdle.. 
Beau, and Ft. (.'), Faithful Friends, iv. 4. 
3f. The zodiac (which see). 
Great breezes in great circles, such as are under the gir- 
dle of the world, do refrigerate. Bacon. 
4. 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. In arch., a small band 
or fillet round the shaft of a column. 6. In 
coals-mining, a thin bed of sandstone. [North. 
Eng.] 7. In anat., the osseous arch or bony 
belt by which either limb or diverging appen- 
dage is attached to the axial skeleton ; the prox- 
imal segment of the appeudicular skeleton. 
8. In hot., a (usually) longitudinal belt formed 
by the overlapping edges of two valves of a dia- 
tom frustule. 9. A seaweed, Lamitmria digita- 
ta, the divisions of whose fronds are strap-like. 
Girdle of Orion. See Orion, and ellwand, 2. Pec- 
toral girdle, the girdle of the fore limb, consisting essen- 
tially of the scapula and coracoid bones, to which another 
bone, the clavicle, may be added, as well as, in the lower 
vertebrates, certain other coracoideau or clavicular ele- 
ments, as a precoracoid, postcoracoid, interclavicle, etc. 
This girdle is usually attached ventrally (not in mammals 
above monotremes)to the sternum, but is only indirectly 
connected with the vertebral column. Also called pec- 
toral arch and xltoidder-girdle.telvic girdle, the gir- 
dle of the hind limb, consisting of the ilium, ischium, and 
pubis, in the higher vertebrates constituting the os Imio- 
minatum or haunch-bone, articulated or ankylosed with 
the sacrum ; in the lower vertebrates it may have addi- 
tional pubic elements. Also called pelvic arch and hip- 
irdle. To have or hold under one's girdlet, to have 
n subjection. Davies. 
Such a wicked brothell 
Which sayth under his girthell 
He holdeth Kyngs and Princes. 
Roy and Barloic, Rede me and Be nott Wroth, p. 114. 
Let the magnanimous junto be heard, who would try the 
hazard of war to the last, and had rather lose their heads 
than put them under the girdle of a presbyterian conven- 
ticle. Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, it. 215. 
girdle 1 (ger'dl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. girdled, ppr. 
girdling. [< girdle^, .] 1. To encircle or bind 
with a belt, cord, or sash ; gird. 
And girdled in thy golden singing coat, 
Come thou before my lady. 
Swinburne, Ballad o! Life. 
g 
i 
2520 
A reaping- 2. To make the circuit of ; encompass ; envi- 
ron; inclose; shut in. 
Its gate, its two trees, its low horizon, girdled by a bro- 
ken wall. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, i. 
Houses with long white sweep 
Girdled the glistening bay. 
M. Arnold, A Summer Night. 
And this is yinlled with a round fair wall 
Made of red stone. Surinbitrne, St. Dorothy. 
3. 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 liy cutting through the bark and into the sap-wood, 
so that they may die and ultimately fall by their own de- 
cay. Mice often girdle young trees by gnawing. 
A grove of chestnut-trees, which, not being felled, but 
killed by girdling, had become entirely divested of bark 
even to the tips of the limbs. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 8. 
In forming settlements in the wilds of America, the 
great trees are stript of their branches, and then girdled, 
as they call it, which consists of cutting a circle of bark 
round the trunk, whereby it is made gradually to decay. 
Trans. Soy. Soc. 
When the skin, especially of a limb, is divided by an in. 
cision encircling the part, the latter is said to be girdled. 
Wilder and Gage, Anat Tech., p. 197. 
girdle 2 (ger'dl), . [Sc., a transposed form of 
griddle, q. v.] A griddle. 
There lyes of oat-meal ne'er a peck, 
With water's help which girdles hot bak 
And turns to bannocks, and to oat cakes. 
Colml, Mock Poem, ii. 
girdle-belt (ger'dl-belt), n. A belt that en- 
circles the waist. Dryden. 
girdle-bone (ger'dl-bon), . [Tr. of F. o en ceiit- 
tare.~] In anat., a 
bone of the skull 
of batrachians, 
representing an 
ethmoid, pre- 
frontals, and or- 
bitosphenoids. 
The Frog's skull is 
characterized by the 
development of a 
very singular carti- 
lage bone, called by 
Cuvier the "os en 
ceinture " or girdle- 
bone. This is an ossifi- 
cation which invades 
the whole circumfer- 
ence of the cranium 
in the presphenoidal 
and ethmoidal re* 
gions, and eventual- 
ly assumes somewhat 
the form of a dice-box, with one-half of its cavity divided 
by a longitudinal partition. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 152. 
girdle-knife (ger'dl-nif ), . A knife hanging 
from the girdle. Prior to the use of table-knives it 
was customary to carry a sheath-knife about the person. 
Both men and women wore such a knife usually from the 
girdle. Compare wedding -knife. 
girdler (ger'dler), n. [< ME. girdler, girdiler (= 
G. giirtler = Dan. gjortler); < girdle 1 + -er l .~] 
1. One who girdles. 2. A maker of girdles or 
of small articles in metal-work to be attached 
to the girdle. 
In 1485 the Girdlers ordered that all those . . . who 
make things pertaining to their craft ("bokes, claspes, 
dogcolers, chapes, girdilles,"&c.) shall pay double the rate 
due from a member of the craft towards bringing forth 
their pageant. York Plays, Int., p. xl. 
Talk with the girdler or the milliner. 
Beau, and Fl. , Honest Man's Fortune, i. 1. 
3. Inentom., one of several cerambycid beetles 
which girdle twigs of various trees after ovi- 
position to furnish decaying wood for their 
larvae to feed upon : as, the twig-girdler, Ond- 
deres cingulatus. See cut under twig-girdler. 
girdlesteadt (ger'dl-sted), . [< ME. girdil- 
stede, gurdelstede; < girdle + stead.] The place 
of the girdle ; the waist. 
Smalish in the girdilstede. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 826. 
Excellent easily : divide yourself in two halfs, just by 
the girdlestead, send one half with your lady, and keep 
t'other to yourself. 
Marston, Jonson, and Chapman, Eastward Ho. 
girdle-swivel (ger'dl-swiv'l), . A contrivance 
for suspending utensils, such as keys and orna- 
ments, from the girdle, fitted with a swivel to 
prevent twisting. 
girdle-wheel (ger'dl-hwel), n. A contrivance 
for spinning, formerly used, consisting of a 
small wheel secured to the girdle, by which a 
rotary motion was given to the spindle. 
giret, and v. An obsolete spelling of gyre. 
girkint, n. See gherkin. 
girl (gferl), n. [< ME. girle, gerle, gurle, a young 
person, whether a boy or a girl, but most fre- 
Chondrocranium of Frog (Rana escu- 
lettta ), from below. 
y, girdle-bone or os en ceinture; P.O. 
exoccipital ; PrO. proOtic ; Qy t quadra- 
tojugal. 
quently meaning a girl ; with dim. suffix -I, < 
LG. gor, m., a boy, gore, t., a girl, = Swiss gurr, 
giron 
also with dim. -Ii, gurrli, a girl. Boy is like- 
wise of LG. origin. For the orig. E. word for 
'girl,' see maiden, maid. An 'etymology' for- 
merly in favor derived girl from L. garrnlnx, 
chattering, talkative: see garrulous.'] If. A 
young person of either sex ; a child. 
In daunger hadde he at his owne gise, 
The yonge gurles of the diocise. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to (.'. T., 1. 004. 
In mylk and in mele to make with papelotes, 
To a-glotye with here gurles that greden after fode. 
Piers Plowman (C), x. 76. 
2. A female child; any young person of the 
female sex ; a young unmarried woman. 
And, in the vats of Luna, 
This year the must shall foam 
Round the white feet of laughing girls, 
Whose sires have marched to Rome. 
Hacaulay, Horatius. 
A beautiful and happy girl, 
With step as light as summer air. 
Whittier, Memories. 
[Girl is often used for an unmarried woman of any age ; 
and as a term of endearment or in humorous use it may 
apply to any woman. 
This look of thine [Desdemona's] will hurl my soul from 
heaven, 
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl! 
Even like thy chastity. SAo*., Othello, v. 2.] 
3f. In the language of the chase, a roebuck of 
two years old. 
The roebuck is the first year a kid, the second year a 
girl, the third year a hemuse. 
Return from Parnassus (1006), ii. 5. 
4. A maid-servant. [Colloq.] 
My wife is upon hanging the long chamber, where the 
girl lies, with the sad [sober-colored] stuff that was in the 
best chamber. Pepya, Diary, Aug. 24, 1668. 
I determined to go and get a girl myself. So one day 
at lunch-time I went to an intelligence-office in the city. 
The Century, X. 287. 
girlandt, . An obsolete spelling of garland. 
Being crowned with a girland greene. 
Spenser, Epithalamion, 1. 157. 
girleen (ger-leV), n. [< girl + -ten, a dim. in 
some Ir. terms.] A little girl. 
You were just a slip of girleen then, and now you are an 
elegant young lady. Mrs. Alexander, The Freres, p. 12. 
girlhood (gerl'hud), n. [< girl + -hood.] The 
state or time of being a girl ; the earlier stage 
of maidenhood. 
My mother passed her days of girlhood with an uncle at 
Warwick. Miss Seward, To Mr. Boswell. 
girlish (ger'lish), a. [< girl + -wfti.] 1. Like 
or befitting a girl ; characteristic of girls. 
And straight forgetting what she had to tell, 
To other speech and girlish laughter fell. 
Drayton, Legend of Matilda. 
The shape suited her age ; it was girlish, light, and 
pliant. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, vl. 
2. Pertaining to the youth of a woman. 
In her girlish age she kept sheep on the moor. Carew. 
girlishly (ger'lish-li), adv. In a girlish manner. 
girlishness (ger'lish-nes), n. The state or quali- 
ty of being girlish ; the disposition or manners 
of a girl. 
girlondt, An obsolete spelling of garland. 
girn, gem (gern), v. i. [Formerly also gearn; 
a transposed form of grin*, q. v.] To grin; 
snarl. [Obsolete or Scotch.] 
His face was ugly and his countenance sterne. 
That could have frayd one with the very sight, 
And gaped like a gulfe when he did gerne. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 15. 
Dost laugh at me ? dost gearne at me '.' dost smile ? dost 
leere on me, dost thou? Marston, The Fawne, iv. 
When thou dost girne, thy rusty face doth looke 
Like the head of a rosted rabbit. 
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II., i. 8. 
It has been always found an excellent way of girning 
at the government in Scripture phrase. 
Smith, Works, II. ill. 
girn, gern (gern), . [< girn, gern, v.] 1. A 
grin. [Obsolete or Scotch.] 
This is at least a girn of fortune, if 
Not a fair smile. Sir W. Davenant, The Wits. 
2. A yawn. Nares. 
Even so the duke frowns for all this curson'd world ; 
Oh, that :/./, kills, it kills. 
Marston, Antonio and Mellida. 
girnat (ger'nat), n. A Scotch form of gurnard. 
girnel (ger'nel), n. [Sc., also written girnal 
and garnel, var. of ME. gerner, E. garner, q. v.] 
A granary ; a meal-chest ; a meal-tub. 
The Queen promised to furnish the men of war out of 
her own girnels, including the time of the siege. 
Pitscottie, Chron. of Scotland, p. 5. 
Yon metd-gimel. 
G. Macdonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock. 
giron, n. In her. See gyron. 
