girdle

Meanings

Plural: girdles

Noun

• an encircling or ringlike structure
• a band of material around the waist that strengthens a skirt or trousers
• a woman's close-fitting foundation garment
• That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference.
• A belt or sash at the waist, often used to support stockings or hosiery.
• A garment used to hold the abdomen, hips, buttocks, and/or thighs in a particular shape.
• The line of greatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting.
• A thin bed or stratum of stone.
• The clitellum of an earthworm.
• The removal or inversion of a ring of bark in order to kill or stunt a tree.
• Alternative form of griddle.

Verb

• cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients
  • "girdle the plant"
• put a girdle on or around
• To gird, encircle, or constrain by such means.
• To kill or stunt a tree by removing or inverting a ring of bark.

Synonyms

cincture, corset, deaden, gird, sash, stays, waistband, waistcloth