Gir·dle, n.
 1. That which girds, encircles, or incloses; a circumference; a belt; esp., a belt, sash, or article of dress encircling the body usually at the waist; a cestus.
    Within the girdle of these walls.   --Shak.
    Their breasts girded with golden girdles.   --Rev. xv. 6.
 2. The zodiac; also, the equator. [Poetic]
    From the world's girdle to the frozen pole.   --Cowper.
    That gems the starry girdle of the year.   --Campbell.
 3. Jewelry The line ofgreatest circumference of a brilliant-cut diamond, at which it is grasped by the setting. See Illust. of Brilliant.
 4. Mining A thin bed or stratum of stone.
 5. Zool. The clitellus of an earthworm.
 Girdle bone Anat., the sphenethmoid. See under Sphenethmoid.
 Girdle wheel, a spinning wheel.
 Sea girdle Zool., a ctenophore. See Venus's girdle, under Venus.
 Shoulder, Pectoral, ∧ Pelvic, girdle. Anat. See under Pectoral, and Pelvic.
 To have under the girdle, to have bound to one, that is, in subjection.