Girdle

(gürdl.) [ A.S. gyrdel, an enclosure.] (Costume.) Aband, belt, or fillet, tied round the loins. It was an article of both male and female attire among several of the nations of antiquity and in the Middle Ages. The G. represented in Fig. 353 was in fashion in the time of Richard II. It was not drawn tightly round the waist, but merely slung there easily, and held by a large buckle. See CESTUS. [s. 409]