girdle1

noun

• a belt or cord worn around the waist.
• a woman’s elasticized corset extending from waist to thigh.
• a thing that surrounds something like a belt or 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.
• the part of a cut gem dividing the crown from the base and embraced by the setting.
• a ring around a tree made by removing bark.

verb

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

• 2cut through the bark all the way around (a tree or branch), typically in order to kill it or to kill a branch to make the tree more fruitful.