girdle swivel (gerdlswiv"l)

A contrivance for suspending utensils, such as keys and ornaments, from the girdle, fitted with a swivel to prevent twisting. wise of LG. origin. For the orig. E. word for 'girl,' see maiden , maid. An 'etymology' for- merly in favor derived girl from L. garrulus , chattering, talkative: see garrulous .] 1. A young person of either sex; a child. In daunger hadde he at his owne gise, The yonge gurles of the diocise. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 664. In mylk and in mele to make with papelotes, To a-glotye with here gurles that greden after fode. Piers Plowman (C), x. 76. 2. A female child; any young person of the female sex; a young unmarried woman. And, in the vats of Luna, This year the must shall foam Round the white feet of laughing girls , Whose sires have marched to Rome. Macaulay, Horatius. A beautiful and happy girl , With step as light as summer air. Whittier, Memories. [ Girl is often used for an unmarried woman of any age; and as a term of endearment or in humorous use it may apply to any woman. This look of thine [Des demon a's] will hurl my soul from heaven, And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl? Even like thy chastity. Shak., Othello, v. 2.] 3t. In the language of the chase, a roebuck of two years old. The roebuck is the first year a kid, the second year a girl , the third year a hemuse. Return from Parna us (1606), ii. 5. 4. A maid-servant. [Colloq.] My wife is upon hanging the long chamber, where the girl lies, with the sad [sober-colored] stuff that was in the best chamber. Pepys, Diary, Aug. 24, 1668. I determined to go and get a girl myself. So one day at lunch-time I went to an intelligence-office in the city. The Century , X. 287. girlandt, n. An obsolete spelling of garland . Being crowned with a girl and greene. Spenser, Epithalamion, 1. 157. girleen (gér-lēn'), n. [ girl + -een, a dim. in some Ir. terms.) A little girl. You were just a slip of girleen then, and now you are an elegant young lady. Mrs. Alexander , The Freres, p. 12. girlhood (gėrl'hud), n. [ girl + -hood .] The state or time of being a girl; the earlier stage of maidenhood. My mother pa ed her days of girlhood with an uncle at Warwick. Mi Seward, To Mr. Boswell.