girdle

noun

1. Alternative form of griddle.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, from Proto-West Germanic *gurdil, from Proto-Germanic *gurdilaz (“girdle, belt”), equivalent to gird + -le. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäddel (“belt”), West Frisian gurdle, gurle, gurl (“belt”), Dutch gordel (“belt”), German Gürtel (“belt”), Yiddish גאַרטל (gartl, “belt”) (whence gartel, a doublet of girdle), Swedish gördel (“girdle”), Icelandic gyrðill (“girdle”).

1. To gird, encircle, or constrain by such means.

   “The Equator, as everyone knows, is an imaginary line or circle girdling the Earth half-way between the North and South poles.”

2. To kill or stunt a tree by removing or inverting a ring of bark.

   “The ordinary large reddish "hen hawks," which circle high above meadows, are doing great good to the farmer by feeding upon the mice and other creatures which steal his grain and girdle his trees.”