Girdle

“ In the Old Testament the girdle was ordered to be worn by the Priests, the sons of Levi, with the other parts of their vestment; and in the New Testament we read: "Let your loins be girt about, and your lamps burning, and be like those servants waiting for their Lord's coming." The blessed John the Baptist had his loins girt about with a leathern girdle ”

“ The girdle A is made m two parts A' A2 fastened together by a lacing G, and the lower end of the back strap B Is removably connected by buttons H or other fastening means to the rear end of the girdle part A'. ”

“ The hip girdle or pelvis is rigid, suiting it to bear the strains that come upon it on account of its position at the junction of the legs with the trunk. At the outer side of each innominate bone is a cup, much deeper than the corresponding cup of the shoulder girdle, and into this fits the head of the skeleton of the leg. The arrangement is a typical ball and socket, and has been much copied in machinery where a flexible joint is required. In a good many people the union of the innominate bones to the sacrum is not so firm but that it yields somewhat when strains are put on it. ”

“ The narrowest part of each girdle, or its "isthmus," in the case of the halves of the transverse girdle is commonly at their origin from the medullary shell, in the case of the halves of the lateral girdle at the poles of the principal axis, and in the case of the halves of the sagittal girdle at the poles of the sagittal axis. The number of the gates is quite constant in the different genera. If only one girdle (the transverse) be developed, we find only two large gates, between the two wings on the poles of the principal axis (in Monozonium, Amphipyle, Amphipylonium) . ”

“ This is made of binding, about 3/8ths of an inch in width. The same directions are to be attended to, as those we have just given for making the girdle. It may be exploded by taking hold of each end, and rolling the ends from each other sharply, or by two persons pulling at opposite ends. ”

“ Girdel, s. girdle, R. 1085; A 358, 3250, B 1921; central line, or great circle, A. i. 17. 26; Girdles, pl. A 368.
Girden, ger. to strike, B 3736. Properly to switch; from A.S. gerd, a yard, a rod, switch.
Girdilstede, s. waist, lit. girdle-stead, R. 826.
Girgoun (jirguun) , s. jargon, chatter, E 1848n.
Girles, pl. young people, whether male or female, A 664. See Gerl.
Girt, pr. s. girds, 4. 100; L. 1775; Girt, pp. girded, A 329. A.S. gyrt, he girds ”

“ In conclusion, I must remark, that in Palestine, as elsewhere, the girdle was sometimes used as a purse: whether it were that the girdle itself was made hollow (as is expressly affirmed of the High Priest's girdle) , or that, without being hollow, its numerous foldings afforded a secure depository for articles of small size. Even in our day, it is the custom to conceal the dagger, the handkerchief for wiping the face, and other bagatelles of personal convenience, in the folds of the girdle. ”

“ The waist girdle either disappears from sight or as a narrow and ornamented strap is worn diagonally to help in the support of the belt. A mass of beautiful ornament covers the whole belt, commonly seen as an unbroken line of bosses enriched with curiously worked roundels or lozenges which, when the loose strap-end is abandoned, meet in a splendid morse or clasp on which the enameller and jeweller had wrought their best. ”

“ To dream of wearing a girdle, and it presses you, denotes that you will be influenced by designing people.
To see others wearing velvet, or jeweled girdles, foretells that you will strive for wealth more than honor. ”

“ The girdle was used chiefly to strengthen the loins, but was also of great service in uniting the different parts of the armour compactly together. If a body be loaded with armour hanging loosely, many wounds may be inflicted, unless they are fastened together by the belt or girdle: so the Christian's graces may prove insufficient to preserve or fortify him, unless compacted by the girdle of sincerity. ”

“ Lo, lords, said she, here is a girdle that ought to be set about the sword. And wit ye well the greatest part of this girdle was made of my hair, which I loved well while that I was a woman of the world. But as soon as I wist that this adventure was ordained me I clipped off my hair, and made this girdle in the name of God. Ye be well found, said Sir Bors, for certes ye have put us out of great pain, wherein we should have entered ne had your tidings been. Then went the gentlewoman and set it on the girdle of the sword. ”

“ Round the middle is fixed a girdle of cloth or procured dressed elk-skin, about an inch in width and closely tied to the body, to this is attached a piece of cloth or blanket or skin about a foot wide, which passes between the legs and is tucked under the girdle both before and behind; from the hip to the ancle he is covered by leggings of dressed antelope skins, with seams at the sides two inches in width, and ornamented by little tufts of hair the produce of the scalps [88] they have made in war, which are scattered down the leg. ”

“ The bones which support the fore limb are one of the distinctive regions of the skeleton defining the animal's place in nature. Among most of the lower vertebrata, such as Amphibians and Reptiles, the girdle is a double arch—the arch of the collar bone or clavicles in front, and the arch of the shoulder-blade or scapula behind. ”

“ This feature may be ordered in the 4161 and 4130 Series. It cannot be introduced when the Basic Feature of Girdle Top is used. The Inner Belt designed to be used with girdles is front-laced, boned with Spirella, fastened at the side with hooks and eyes. ”

“ They were often tucked into the belt in front, showing a rich underskirt.
A girdle (besides a belt) was worn on the hips with the longer tunics, as in Fig. 28 (see p. 94) , the dagger and pouch being carried in front on the girdle, and [80] not the belt. A small dagger was often slung at the back or front of the neck, as an ornament at the end of the 14th century.
Fig. 18.—Fourteenth century.
Tights to the waist were worn with both long and short tunics, and retained the crossed binding up the legs to the 13th century, in the various designs of page 53. ”

“ They wear scarcely any dress, the men having generally a single leaf hanging from their girdles, or at the most a strip of soft bark answering the purpose of drawers, while the adult women wear a narrow fringed girdle, which passes several times round the waist. ”

“ The other piece of cloth is passed through this girdle behind, and one end of it being brought over the left shoulder, and the other over the right, they fall down over the breast, and are tucked into the girdle before, so that by opening or closing the plaits, they can cover more or less of their bodies as they please; the arms, legs, and feet are always naked. The difference between the dress of the two sexes consists principally in the manner of wearing the waist-piece ”

“ Around the waist is a strong girdle provided with iron rings, one on each side, from which ascend cords to the persons in the boat from which the diver descends, for the purpose not only of aiding to guide him over the rocks, and helping him to an upright position, but to serve for signalizing in case of sudden danger or accident, and as a means of hauling him up when required. ”

“ The Moors, though they do not “gird” themselves with girdles, wear one, but it is under the haïk and over the tunic, and has a remarkable buckle. A buckle, as the sign of royalty, was sent to Antiochus by Jonathan Maccabees. No other Eastern people has a girdle and buckle. Drawers, such as the Levites were enjoined to wear, complete the Moorish dress. ”

“ This kind of girdle is in general use among the Asiatic nations to the present day. Θωραξ, the Breast-Plate; this consisted of two parts, called πτερυγες or wings: one covered the whole region of the thorax or breast, in which the principal viscera of life are contained; and the other covered the back, as far down as the front part extended. Κνημιδες, Greaves or brazen boots, which covered the shin or front of the leg; a kind of solea was often used, which covered the sole, and laced about the instep, and prevented the foot from being wounded by rugged ways, thorns, stones, etc. ”

“ In most of those parts of the Continent—Brittany, for example—where the peasantry maintains old fashions in clothing, the belt or girdle is still an important part of the clothing. Italian non-commissioned officers find that the Sicilian recruit’s main objection to the first bath of his life-time lies in the fact that he must lay down the cherished belt which carries his few valuables. ”

“ Gird′er, one of the principal pieces of timber in a floor binding the others together: in engineering, any simple or compound beam of wood, iron, or steel used to support joisting, walls, arches, &c., in various kinds of bridges.—Gird one's self, to tuck up loose garments under the girdle: to brace the mind for any trial or effort. ”

“ Sometimes, however, old women and children wear the ancient national girdle, namely a broad belt ornamented with knobs and buttons, and clasped in front by an oval piece of silver of great size and weight and heavily embossed. ”

“ The eight cross or skew facets and the eight skill facets, in both sets the shape being triangular, form the boundary of the girdle; modern brilliants usually have instead sixteen facets of the same shape and size. The above 33 facets lie above the girdle and form the crown of the stone. Immediately opposite and parallel to the table is the tiny culet. Next to the latter come the four large pavilion facets with the four quoins intermediately between them, both sets being five-sided but nearly quadrilateral in shape ”

“ Any woman may possess a girdle, and it is an individual, not a tribal, possession, the reverse of the custom as regards the men’s feather head-dresses. These girdles are exceedingly handsome and wonderfully well constructed.
Beads are especially treasured by the Karahone women, and they will wear chain upon chain, amounting in the aggregate to a considerable weight. The number worn by a Boro woman may be judged from the illustration (p. 154) , where the white appendage round the woman’s neck is made simply by stringing a few pounds of white beads together. ”

“ In civil dress the magnificent belt of the 14th century is worn by men of rank over the hips of the tight short-skirted coat, and in that century and in the 15th and 16th there are sumptuary laws to check the extravagance of rich girdles worn by men and women whose humble station made them unseemly. ”

“ Holostei and most Teleostei) , usually meet in a median ventral symphysis, so that the secondary girdle tends to acquire the characteristic hoop-like arrangement of its parts which has been lost in the primary girdle. With the development of a bony secondary girdle, the primary girdle (scapula and coracoid) becomes much reduced, and, as a rule, does little more than connect the fins with the cleithra. ”

“ USE OF CORDS AND KNOTS AND GIRDLES IN PARTURITION.
Folk medicine in all regions is still relying upon the potency of mystical cords and girdles to facilitate labor. The following are a few of the many examples which might be presented:
Delivery was facilitated if the man by whom the woman has conceived unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, saying: "I have tied it and I will untie it," and then takes his departure. ”

“ The special shaping in the back permits the wearing of a low back brassiere-girdle and at the same time maintains a large degree of support and control to the bust and under arm flesh; the stay at each side of centre back affords a comparatively firm point over which the support of the bust and under arm can be maintained. ”

“ A young girl who has been wearing little or nothing in the way of a figure training garment, even though she needs one badly, may have to be gradually brought up to the idea by first wearing a girdle and bandeau or a brassiere-girdle. ”

“ I should add that in making my examination of this girdle I was kindly assisted by Mr. C. A. Trigg, a well known Halifax mill manager and designer. We made the examination independently and on comparing notes afterwards found that we agreed in all essential points. ”

“ Like the men they have a girdle round the waist, and when either sex wishes to disengage the arm, it is drawn up through the hole near the shoulder, and the lower part of the sleeve thrown behind the body. ”

“ When a wrestler finds his girdle grasped on either side, he is at liberty to pass his hands under his adversary's arms and give an upward heave, thus applying a breaking strain at a point midway between the adversary's elbows and shoulders. ”

“ They will not clothe themselves: a girdle with a few pockets hanging to it to carry things about in is all they wear: they will sit down on the wet moss or in a gorse bush when there is dry heather within two yards of them. ”

“ Like the other men their bodies are blackened, but their distinguishing mark is a collection of two or three raven skins fixed to the girdle behind the back in such a way, that the tails stick out horizontally from the body. ”

“ When the threshing is to be done, a rawhide rope or two is stretched about these posts to form a fence, and often upon this are hung many blankets, the gay colors and striped ornamentation of which make an exceedingly picturesque scene. Sometimes in place of the ropes a cordon of bare-legged small boys and girls, to whom the duty is great sport, does service as a girdle. The diameter of such a prepared space, hardened by service for half a century to the consistency of brick, is sixty or a hundred feet. ”