girth

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points: 9
Words With Friends: 9
Letters: 5

Pronunciation

/ɡɜːθ/

See all 3 pronunciations

/ɡɜːθ/ · /ɡɝθ/ (US) · [ɡɚθ] (US)

Definition of girth

7 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

(countable, uncountable)A band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.

“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.”

See all 7 definitions

noun

(countable, uncountable)A band passed under the belly of an animal, which holds a saddle or a harness saddle in place.

“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.”
(countable, uncountable)The part of an animal around which the girth fits.
(countable, informal, uncountable)One's waistline circumference, most often a large one.

“He's a lusty, jolly fellow, that lives well, at least three yards in the girth.”
(countable, uncountable)A small horizontal brace or girder.
(countable, uncountable)The distance measured around an object; the circumference.
(countable, uncountable)The length of the shortest cycle in a graph.

verb

To bind as if with a girth or band.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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”).