girdle1

noun

• 1a belt or cord worn round the waist: her waist was defined by a gold chain girdle
• a thing that encircles something like a girdle:a communications girdle around the world
• Anatomy either of two sets of bones encircling the body, to which the limbs are attached. See pectoral girdle, pelvic girdle.

• 2a woman’s elasticated corset extending from waist to thigh: she wears corsets and girdles, tight and uncomfortable

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

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

verb

• 1encircle (the body) with a girdle:the Friar loosened the rope that girdled his waist
• surround; encircle:the chain of volcanoes which girdles the Pacific

• 2cut through the bark all the way round (a tree or branch), typically in order to kill it: sometimes the trees were completely girdled and died