girdle

American  

[gur-dl] / ˈgɜr dl /

noun

• girdles
  plural

1. a lightweight undergarment, worn especially by women, often partly or entirely of elastic or boned, for supporting and giving a slimmer appearance to the abdomen, hips, and buttocks.

2. a belt, cord, sash, or the like, worn about the waist.

3. anything that encircles, confines, or limits.

   Synonyms:

   hedge, band, ring, circle, belt

4. Jewelry. the edge or narrow band between the upper and lower facets of a gem.

5. Anatomy. the bony framework that unites the upper or lower extremities to the axial skeleton.

6. Architecture. an ornamental band, especially one surrounding the shaft of a column.

7. a ring made about a tree trunk, branch, etc., by removing a band of bark.

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verb (used with object)

• girdles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• girdled,
  past participle,  past
• girdling
  present participle

1. to encircle with a belt; gird.

2. to encompass; enclose; encircle.

3. to move around (something or someone) in a circle.

4. to cut away the bark and cambium in a ring around (a tree, branch, etc.).

5. Jewelry. round.

girdle ¹ British  

/ ˈɡɜːdəl /

noun

1. a woman's elastic corset covering the waist to the thigh

2. anything that surrounds or encircles

3. a belt or sash

4. jewellery the outer edge of a gem

5. anatomy any encircling structure or part See pectoral girdle pelvic girdle

6. the mark left on a tree trunk after the removal of a ring of bark

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verb

1. to put a girdle on or around

2. to surround or encircle

3. to remove a ring of bark from (a tree or branch), thus causing it to die

girdle ² British  

/ ˈɡɜːdəl /

noun

1. dialect another word for griddle

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girdle Scientific  

/ gûr′dl /

1. To kill a tree or woody shrub by removing or destroying a band of bark and cambium from its circumference. The plants die because the distribution of food down from the leaves (through the phloem) and sometimes the flow of water and nutrients up from the roots (through the xylem) is disrupted, and the cambium can no longer regenerate these vascular tissues to repair the damage. Unwanted trees, such as invasive or nonnative species, are often eliminated by girdling. Some plant diseases kill trees by destroying a ring of cambium and so girdling them. Gnawing animals, especially rodents, can also girdle trees.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ungirdle
  verb (used with object)
• girdle-like
  adjective
• girdlelike
  adjective
• girdlingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• girdles
  plural

Participles

• girdling
  present
• girdled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• girdle
  simple
• girdles
  simple
• have girdled
  perfect
• has girdled
  perfect
• am girdling
  progressive
• are girdling
  progressive
• is girdling
  progressive
• have been girdling
  perfect progressive
• has been girdling
  perfect progressive

Past

• girdled
  simple
• had girdled
  perfect
• was girdling
  progressive
• were girdling
  progressive
• had been girdling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will girdle
  simple
• will have girdled
  perfect
• will be girdling
  progressive
• will have been girdling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of girdle

before 1000; Middle English; Old English gyrdel, derivative of girdan to gird ¹

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Explanation

A girdle is a tight-fitting undergarment that supports the lower body. The purpose of a girdle is to make a person's waist and stomach look smaller and firmer. Girdles are thought of as old-fashioned ladies' underwear these days, though they are still worn by some — and many others wear "foundation garments" that are essentially modern girdles. Before the late 1960s, many women wore girdles, until the availability around that time of control-top pantyhose. Another kind of girdle is simply a ring that encircles something — a belt, a band of bark around a tree, or the Earth's equator.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

girdle girdles girdled girdling

The team found a partial skeleton encased in rock that included portions of the lower jaw, vertebrae, and pelvic girdle.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2025

If allowed to grow up the trunk of a tree, it can eventually girdle or smother and kill it.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2024

At first, the pectoral girdle enabled gill-lifting muscles to better open the mouth, leading to the evolution of diverse fish feeding systems, Brazeau says.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 1, 2023

Powerful magnetic and electric fields flowing from and through the tokamak will girdle and heat the plasma cloud so that the atoms inside will collide and fuse together, releasing immense amounts of energy.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 15, 2023

As Kermit and I walked over, I looked at the girdle.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

When Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ludicrously urged Americans to dress up for travel, he was referencing this imaginary age of girdles and silk-stockinged women dolled up like Veronica Lake.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

Each bag is assigned to a player and contains everything that person wore under his uniform — compression shirts, girdles, tights, socks, skull caps.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2024

RIGA, Latvia — Russian volunteers are crafting girdles from dog hair to help keep the soldiers fighting against Ukraine warm.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2022

Worn until the early 20th century, it was eventually replaced by girdles, and then more or less by diet, exercise and plastic surgery.

From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2021

The girls grew up knowing nothing of girdles, and the boys announced their manhood by turning the bills of their caps backward.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

Shellfish was another popular commodity in a city girdled by oyster beds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

As long as a tree is not girdled — cut entirely around its circumference, severing all the vascular tissue — it will continue to live.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 2023

Temujin girdled his sworn friend Jamukha with the golden belt taken as loot from Toqto’a of the Merkit.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Individual ash can also be girdled to make a so-called trap tree: the bark is removed all the way around the trunk, drawing borers in the vicinity with the promise of exposed sapwood.

From The Verge ● Nov. 25, 2019

“Only ten after six,” Grandma muttered, “and she’s already girdled and gallivantin’.”

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Felling is cutting down the tree outright, while girdling refers to killing the tree by removing its access to nutrients, but not cutting it down.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2023

Many adult lampreys make it through fish ladders designed for salmon, but at each of the eight dams girdling the lower Columbia and Snake rivers, their ranks are reduced by roughly 30% to 50%.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2022

With hard freezes becoming increasingly rare, more larvae are growing into adult beetles that systematically eat bark, girdling and killing the trees, “turning whole slopes from green to red.”

From Washington Post ● May 17, 2019

In the new world, China envisages girdling the planet with a network of transportation and resource infrastructure.

From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2019

A huge wave girdling it was advancing towards us relentlessly.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

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