G I R 
Tliefe miglity girders which tlie fabi ic bind, 
Thefe ribs robiift and valt in order join’d. Blackmorc. 
GIR'DER, y. [from V. ] A fatirift.—We great 
girders, call it a iQiort faying of (liarp wit, with a bitter 
I'enfe in a fweet word. Lilly's Alexan. and Campafpe. 
GIR'DLE, f. [jryj-ibe, Sax.] Any thing drawn 
round tlie waift, and tied or buckled: 
A cap of flowers, and a girdle, 
Embroider’d all with leaves olf myrtle. Shakefpeare. 
On him his mantle, girdle, fword, and bow, 
On liim Ids heart and foul, he did bellow. Cowley. 
Enclofure ; circumference : 
Suppofe witfiin the girdle of thefe walls 
Are now confin’d two mighty monarchies. Shakefpeare. 
The zodiac.—Great breezes in great circles, fuch as are 
under the girdle of the w orld, do refrigerate. Bacon. 
It was anciently the cultom for bankrupts and infol- 
vent debtors to put off and furrender their girdle in 
open court. The reafon was, that our ancellors ufed 
to carry all their neceflary utenlils tied to the girdle; 
wiience the girdle becante a fymbol of the eflatc. Hif. 
tory relates, that the widow of Philip J. duke of Bur¬ 
gundy, renounced her right of fuccellion, by putting off 
iter girdle upon the duke’s tomb. It was a cullom 
among the Greeks and Romans for the hufband to untie 
his bride’s girdle. Homer, lib.xi. of his Odylfey, calls 
the girdle “maid’s or virgin’s girdle.” 
The poets attribute to V'enus a particular kind of girdle 
called cefus, to which they annexed a faculty of infpir- 
ing the palfion of love. 
To GIR'DLE, ». a. Togird; to bind as witli agirdle ; 
Lay the gentle babes, girdling one another 
Within their innocent alabafler arms. Shakefpeare, 
To inclofe ; to fliut in ; to environ: 
Let me look back upon thee, O thou wall, 
That girdlcf in thofe wolves! Shakefpeare. 
GIR'DLE-BELT,y. The belt thatincirclesthe waifl : 
Nor did his eyes lefs longingly behold 
The girdle-belt, with nails of burnifli’d gold. Dryden. 
GIR'DLE-NESS, a cape of Scotland, on the eafl 
coaft : tw'o miles call of Aberdeen. ' 
GIR'DLE-STEAD, f. That part of the body W'here 
the girdle was worn.—Divide yourfelf into two halt's, 
juft 'oy the girdle-ftead. Eafward Hoe. 
GIR'DLER, f. A maker of girdles. 
GIR'DLERS’ COMPANY, a refpeclable company 
of the city of London, incorporated Auguft 6, 1448. 
'They are a mailer, three wardens, twenty-four allillants, 
eighty-four livery-men. See. 1 heir armorial enligns 
are per tefs azure, and or a pale counter-changed, each 
piece of the firft, charged with a gridiron of the fecond. 
'I’he creft is the demy effigy of St. Lawrence, holding 
in his right hand a gridiron, in the left a book, the firft 
of the colour, the latter of the metal aforefaid. The 
motto, “Give thanks to God.” Their hall is in Ba- 
finghall.ftreet. 
GIRE, f. 'igyrus, Lat.] A circle deferibed by any 
thing in motion. See Gyre. 
GIREL'LA, y "[from the Lat. gyro, to turn round. ] 
A vane ; a weathercock. 
GIRET', a town of Perfia, in the province of Me- 
zanderan; thirty miles I'outfi of Ferabat. 
GIR'GASHITES, or Gergese'nes, an ancient peo¬ 
ple of the land of Canaan, whole habitation w'as beyond 
the fea of Tiberias, where w'e find fome foellleps of 
their name in the city of Gergtfa, upon the lake of Ti¬ 
berias. The Jevvilh dodders record, that when Joftuia 
firft came into the land of Canaan, the Girgalhites took 
a refoliition rather to forfake t.heir country than fubmit 
to the Hebrews, and accordingly retired iisto Africa. 
N'everthelefs, a good number of them ftaid behind, 
V01..VIII. No. 527, 
G I R frSl 
fince Jofliua, xxiv. ii, informs us that h.e fubdued the 
Girgalhites, and they whom he overcame were on tliis 
fide the Jordan. 
GIR'GE, or Djergeh, a town of Upper Egypt, t’le 
capital of the Said, and relidence of a bey, fituated on 
the left bank of the Nile, in a moll fertile diliritt, 
abounding in all kinds of provifions. It is about a 
league in circumference, and contains ieveral mofques, 
bazars, and fquares, but no marble buildings or remains 
of ancient edifices : 215 miles fouth of Cairo, and 160 
north of Syene. Lat. 26. 30. N. Ion. 49. 8. E. Ferro. 
GIRGEN'TI, or Agrigenti, a city of the iftaiu’ 
of Sicily, near tlie fouth coaft of the V'alley of Mazara, 
founded near the ruins of the ancient Agrigenturn ; the 
fee of a biftiop : fituated on the river St. Blaife, about, 
three miles from the fea ; forty-feven miles fouth of Pa¬ 
lermo. Tills fee is the richell in Sicily. Among the 
turiofitios belonging to tlie catliedral is an Etrufean 
vafe of rare fize and prefervation. The monaftery of 
San Nicolo Hands on a little eminence in tlie centre of 
tlie old city, admirably fituated. The range of hills' 
towards tlie fouth-eaft finks gradually, fo as to admit a 
noble view of fea and (If plain, terminated on each fide 
by luxuriant groves of fruit-trees. Above appear the 
remains of ancient grandeur, wonderfully contrafted 
with-the humble ftraw cottages built at their feet. In 
the garden of this convent is a fquare building witii 
pilafters, which is fuppofed to have been part of the_ 
palace of the Roman prsetor. See Agrigentum, 
vol. i. p. 207. Lat. 37. 28. N. Ion. 31. 18. El. Ferro. 
GIR'I A, a town of the illand of Cephalonia : lixtecn 
miles weft of Cephalonia. 
GIR'KIN, /. A fmall kind of cucumber. 
GIRL, y. [Concerning the etymology of this v/ord 
there is much queftion; Meric Cafaubon derives it from 
xofjj, of the fame Cgnification; Minfhew from garrula, 
Latin, a prattler, or girella, Italian, a wTathercock ; 
Junius thinks that it cqmes from herlodes, Welfti, from 
which, fays he, harlot is very ealily deduced. Skinner 
imagines that the Saxons, who tiled ceojil, for a man, 
might likewife have ceopla for a woman, though no fuch 
word is now found. Dr. Hickes derives it moft proba¬ 
bly from the Illandic karlinna, a woman.]* A young wo¬ 
man, or female child.—In thofe unfledg’d days was my 
W'ife a girl. Shakefpeare. 
Tragedy ftiould blufli as much to Hoop 
To the low mimic follies of a farce. 
As a grave matron would to dance with girls. Rofeommon. 
A boy, like thee, would make a kingly line ; 
But oh! a girl, like her, mull be divine ! Dryden. 
GIRL'ISH, adj. Suiting a girl ; youthful.—In her 
girlifi age fhe kept Iheep on the moor. Carew. 
GIRL'ISFINESS, /. The Hate or quality of being 
girlilh. 
GIRL'ISHLY, adv. In a girlilli manner. 
GIRN, f. [a tranfpofition of letters for] Grin.— 
This is at leall a girn of fortune, if not a fair fmile. 
Davenant’s Wits. 
To GIRN, V. n. A corruption of grin. It is applied 
in Scotland to a crabbed, captious, or peevilh, perlbn. 
GIROMA'GNY, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Upper Rhine, and chief place of a canton, 
in tlie diftritl of Befort : two leagues north-well of Be- 
fort, and nine and a Iialf fouth-weft of Colmar. 
GI'RON, a town of Africa, on the Ivory Coaft. 
GI'RON,y. In heraldry; a kind of triangle. 
GI'RON DE LOYASA (Garcias), a learned Spaniftt 
prelate, born at Talavera, and purl'ued his ftudies in 
tlie univerfity of Alcala. When he had completed his 
philofophical and theological courfes, he applied to tlie 
lludy of hiftory, and of the councils, with 'Which he 
became intimately converfant. Afterwards he retired 
to Toledo, of which lie had obtained a canoiiry, and 
where his uncle Lopez de Carvajal religned to him the 
7 I archdeacon-i y 
