girth

English

a girth

Etymology

From Middle English girth, gerth, gyrth, from Old Norse gjǫrð, from Proto-Germanic *gerdō, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; belt”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌰 (gairda), Icelandic gjörð. Also related to German Gurt, English gird, Albanian ngërthej (“to tie, bind, fasten”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡɜːθ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡɝθ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ

Noun

girth (countable and uncountable, plural girths)

1. A band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.
   • 1929, Baldwyn Dyke Acland, chapter 8, in Filibuster‎^[1]:

     He was standing on the offside of his horse, holding up the flap of his saddle, with the surcingle loosened, and was pointing to the girths. Close to their attachment to the saddle they had been almost cut through with a knife.

2. The part of an animal around which the girth fits.
3. (informal) One's waistline circumference, most often a large one.
   • 1716 March 16 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 22. Monday, March 5. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:

     He's a lusty, jolly fellow, that lives well, at least three yards in the girth.

4. A small horizontal brace or girder.
5. The distance measured around an object.
6. (graph theory) The length of the shortest cycle in a graph.

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• circumference
• cinch

Derived terms

• breast girth
• breast-girth
• girthen
• girthful
• girth-galled
• girthless
• girthly
• girthsome
• girth strap
• girthy

 

Translations

A band or strap passed under an animal to hold a saddle in place

• Azerbaijani: örkən, kəfə (dialectal)
• Catalan: cingla (ca) f
• Czech: podpěnka f, podbřišník m
• Dutch: singel (nl) m
• Galician: cenlla f, cincha f, atafal m
• Georgian: სატე (saṭe)
• German: Sattelgurt (de) m
• Ingrian: selkänahka
• Maori: kati
• Middle English: gerth
• Portuguese: cilha (pt) f
• Spanish: cincha (es) f
• Swedish: sadelgjord (sv) c
• Tagalog: satiyan, paniyan
• Ukrainian: попру́га (uk) f (poprúha)
• Zazaki: gılonc (diq)

the distance measured around an object

• Bulgarian: обиколка (bg) f (obikolka)
• Czech: obvod (cs) m
• Dutch: omtrek (nl) m, omvang (nl) m
• Finnish: ympärysmitta (fi)
• French: circonférence (fr) f
• Georgian: გარშემოხვევა (garšemoxveva), გარშემორტყმა (garšemorṭq̇ma)
• German: Umfang (de) m
• Hebrew: היקף (he) (hekef)
• Hungarian: kerület (hu), körfogat
• Italian: circonferenza (it) f
• Macedonian: обем m (obem)
• Norwegian: omkrets (no) m
• Portuguese: circunferência (pt)
• Russian: обхва́т (ru) m (obxvát)
• Spanish: circunferencia (es) f
• Swedish: omkrets (sv) c, omfång (sv) n
• Ukrainian: окру́жність (uk) f (okrúžnistʹ)

equipment

• Finnish: satulavyö (fi)
• German: Sattelgurt (de) m
• Icelandic: gjörð f, söðulgjörð f
• Ido: gurto (io)
• Macedonian: колан за седло m (kolan za sedlo)
• Norwegian: salgjord m
• Polish: popręg (pl) m
• Russian: подпру́га (ru) f (podprúga)
• Spanish: cincha (es) f
• Swedish: sadelgjord (sv) c, gjord (sv) c

graph theory

• French: maille (fr) f
• Galician: cintura (gl) f
• Italian: calibro (it) m
• Portuguese: cintura (pt) f
• Spanish: cintura (es) f

Verb

girth (third-person singular simple present girths, present participle girthing, simple past and past participle girthed)

1. To bind as if with a girth or band.

Anagrams

• grith, right

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

girth

1. Alternative form of grith

Etymology 2

Noun

girth

1. Alternative form of gerth