garter
noun
- stocking supporter
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L331808 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɡɑːtə/ / /ˈɡɑːɹtɚ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English garter, from Old Northern French gartier, from Old French garet (compare Old French jartier, from jaret), from Gaulish *garrā, from Proto-Celtic *garros (“calf, shank”) (compare Cornish gar, Cornish gar,Middle Welsh garr, Old Irish gairr). Cognate with French jarretière.
- A band worn around the leg to hold up a sock or stocking.
- A bendlet.
- An elastic band encircling any article of clothing.
- One of a set of tapes stretched out horizontally for acrobats and equestrians to leap over as part of a circus act or display of skill.
“GRAND TRAMPOLINE, by Mr KING, (from Astley's Amphitheatre, London) who will introduce a great variety of leaps. Somerset 1 - Somerset in the Air - while in that position lie will fire two pistols. Somerset 2 - Over garters 12 feet high.”
“Mrs. Ashton will then make her entree in a beautiful act of equestrianism, entitled "The Mountain Maid," on a rapid courser, taking an aerial flight through hoops, and over garters, &c.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English garter, from Old Northern French gartier, from Old French garet (compare Old French jartier, from jaret), from Gaulish *garrā, from Proto-Celtic *garros (“calf, shank”) (compare Cornish gar, Cornish gar,Middle Welsh garr, Old Irish gairr). Cognate with French jarretière.
- to fasten with a garter
- To wear a garter
“Lady Hester loathed the coarse, deluded and lecherous Princess Caroline, who showed off to Smith by 'dancing about, exposing herself, like an opera girl', and even gartering below the knee:”