girdle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
girdle1

▶noun

• 1 a belt or cord worn round the waist.

• 2 a woman's elasticated corset extending from waist to thigh.

• 3 the part of a cut gem dividing the crown from the base and embraced by the setting.

• 4 a ring made around a tree by removing bark.

▶verb

• 1 encircle with a girdle or belt.

  ■ surround; encircle.

• 2 kill (a tree or branch) by cutting through the bark all the way round.

– derivatives
girdler noun.

– origin OE gyrdel, of Gmc origin; rel. to gird1 and girth.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
girdle2

▶noun Scottish and northern English term for griddle (sense 1 of the noun).