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To make a ring around by cutting away the bark; to girdle; as, to ring branches or roots.

h; anciently, a cloth or garment worn in mourning, distress, mortification, or penitence. Gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. 2 Sam. iii. 31. Thus with sackcloth I invest my woe. Sandys.

A scarf or band worn about the waist, over the shoulder, or otherwise; a belt; a girdle, -- worn by women and children as an ornament; also worn as a badge of distinction by military officers, members of societies, etc.

The principal bone of the shoulder girdle in mammals; the shoulder blade.

See Sea girdles.

Seaweed; esp., coarse seaweed. See Ware, and Sea girdles.

A girdle. [Obs.] "Girt with a seint of silk." Chaucer.

A kind of herpes (Herpes zoster) which spreads half way around the body like a girdle, and is usually attended with violent neuralgic pain.

cember had nothing over their shoulders but their shirts. Addison. She had her shirts and girdles of hair. Bp. Fisher.

gion of the joint, by which the fore limb is connected with the body or with the shoulder girdle; the projection formed by the bones and muscles about that joint.

To gird with a sinch; to tighten the sinch or girth of (a saddle); as, to sinch up a sadle. [Western U.S.]

ly; cunning; insinuating; deceitful. So to the coast of Jordan he directs His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles. Milton.

The spread or extent of an arch between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between its supports.

, a bone of the skull which surrounds the anterior end of the brain in many amphibia; the girdle bone.

member of such shape, as channel irons, I beams, T beams, etc., or, sometimes, a column, girder, etc., built up with such members.

Girded or tucked up; bound; drawn tightly together. His habit fit for speed succinct. Milton.

A central floor timber, as a girder, or a piece reaching from a wall to a girder. Called also summertree.

The girdle of a cassock, by which it is fastened round the waist.

Girded with a sword. Milton.

A division of Ctenophora including those which have a long, ribbonlike body. The Venus's girdle is the most familiar example.