Gir·dle, n.
1. That which girds, encircles, or incloses; a circumference; a belt; esp., a belt, sash, or article of dress encircling the body usually at the waist; a cestus.
Within the girdle of these walls. --Shak.
Their breasts girded with golden girdles. --Rev. xv. 6.
2. The zodiac; also, the equator. [Poetic]
From the world's girdle to the frozen pole. --Cowper.
That gems the starry girdle of the year. --Campbell.
3. Jewelry The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting. See Illust. of Brilliant.
4. Mining A thin bed or stratum of stone.
5. Zool. The clitellus of an earthworm.
Girdle bone Anat., the sphenethmoid. See under Sphenethmoid.
Girdle wheel, a spinning wheel.
Sea girdle Zool., a ctenophore. See Venus's girdle, under Venus.
Shoulder, Pectoral, ∧ Pelvic, girdle. Anat. See under Pectoral, and Pelvic.
To have under the girdle, to have bound to one, that is, in subjection.