Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GIN'GLY-MUS, n. [Gr. γιγγλυμος.]

In anatomy, a species of articulation resembling a hinge. That species of articulation in which each bone partly receives and is partly received by the other, so as to admit only of flexion and extension, is called ginglymus. Parr.

GIN'NED, pp.

Caught in a trap.

GIN'NET, n.

A nag. [See Jennet.]

GIN'NING, ppr.

Catching in a trap.

GIN'SENG, n. [This word is probably Chinese, and it is said by Grosier, to signify the resemblance of a man, or man's thigh. He observes also that the root in the language of the Iroquois is called garentoquen, which signifies legs and thighs separated. Grosier's China, i. 534.]

A plant, of the genus Panax, the root of which is in great demand among the Chinese. It is found in the northern parts of Asia and America, and is an article of export from America to China. It has a jointed, fleshy, taper root, as large as a man's finger, which when dry is of a yellowish white color, with a mucilaginous sweetness in the taste, somewhat resembling that of licorice, accompanied with a slight bitterness. Encyc.

GIP, v.t.

To take out the entrails of herrings. Bailey.

GIP'SIRE, n.

A kind of pouch formerly worn at the girdle. – Bulwer.

GIPSY, n.

1. The Gipsies are a race of vagabonds which infest Europe, Africa, and Asia, strolling about and subsisting mostly by theft, robbery and fortune-telling. The name is supposed to be corrupted from Egyptian, as they were thought to have come from Egypt. But their language indicates that they originated in Hindoostan. Grellman.
2. A reproachful name for a dark complexion. Shak.
3. A name of slight reproach to a woman; sometimes implying artifice or cunning. A slave I am to Clara's eyes: / The gipsy knows her power and flies. Prior.

GIP'SY, n.

The language of the gipsies.

GIP'SY-ISM, n.

1. The arts and practices of gipsies; deception; cheating; flattery. Grellman
2. The state of a gipsy.

GI-RAFF', n. [Sp. girafa; It. giraffa; Ar. زَرَافَه, so called from leaping or the extreme length of its neck, from زَرَفَ zarafa, to leap on, to hasten.]

The camelopard, a quadruped. [See Camelopard.]

GIR'AN-DOLE, n. [It. girandola, from giro, a turn, and andare, to go.]

A chandelier; a large kind of branched candlestick.

GIR'A-SOL, n. [Fr. and Sp.; It. girasole; giro, L. gyrus, a turn, It. girare, to turn, and sole, L. sol, the sun.]

1. The turnsole, a plant of the genus Heliotropium.
2. A mineral, usually milk white, bluish white or sky blue, but when turned toward the sun or any bright light, it constantly reflects a reddish color; hence its name. It sometimes strongly resembles a translucid jelly. Cleveland.

GIRD, n. [gurd; Sax. geard, or gyrd, or gyrda, a twig, branch, rod, pole, Eng. a yard; G. gurt, a girth, a girdle; Dan. gierde, a hedge, a rail. This word signifies primarily a twig, shoot or branch; hence a pole or stick, used in measuring. In measuring land, among our Saxon ancestors, the gyrd seems to have been a certain measure like our rod, perch or pole, all of which signify the same thing, a branch or shoot, a little pole. We now apply the word yard to a measure of three feet in length. In rude ages, gyrds, shoots of trees, were used for binding things together, whence the verb, to gird. See Withe. Gyrds were also used for driving, or for punishment, as we now use whips; and our common people use gird, for a severe stroke of a stick or whip. See Lye, under Gyrd and Weal-stylling.]

1. A twitch or pang; a sudden spasm which resembles the stroke of a rod or the pressure of a band.
2. In popular language, a severe stroke of a stick or whip.

GIRD, v.i.

To gibe; to sneer; to break a scornful jest; to utter severe sarcasms. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me. Shak.

GIRD, v.t. [gurd; pret. and pp. girded or girt. Sax. gyrdan; G. gürten; D. gorden; Sw. giorda, to gird or surround; Dan. gierder, to hedge, to inclose. See the Noun. It is probable, that garden, Ir. gort, is from the same root; originally an inclosed field, a piece of ground surrounded with poles, stakes and branches of trees. If the noun is the primary word, the sense of the root is to shoot, as a branch; if the verb is the root, the sense is to surround, or rather to bind or make fast. The former is the most probable.]

1. To bind by surrounding with any flexible substance, as with a twig, a cord, bandage or cloth; as, to gird the loins with sackcloth.
2. To make fast by binding; to put on; usually with on; as, to gird on a harness; to gird on a sword.
3. To invest; to surround. The Son appeared, / Girt with omnipotence. Milton.
4. To clothe; to dress; to habit. I girded thee about with fine linen. Ezek. xvi.
5. To furnish; to equip. Girded with snaky wiles. Milton.
6. To surround; to encircle; to inclose; to encompass. The Nyseian isle, / Girt with the river Triton. Milton.
7. To gibe; to reproach severely; to lash. Shak.

GIRD'ED, pp.

Bound; surrounded; invested; put on.

GIRD'ER, n.

1. In architecture, the principal piece of timber in a floor. Its end is usually fastened into the summers or breast summers, and the joists are framed into it at one end. In buildings entirely of timber, the girder is fastened by tenons into the posts.
2. A satirist. Lilly.

GIRD'ING, n.

A covering. Is. iii.

GIRD'ING, ppr.

Binding; surrounding; investing.

GIRD'LE, n. [Sax. gyrdle, gyrdl; Sw. gördel; G. gürtel; D. gordel.]

1. A band or belt; something drawn round the waist of a person, and tied or buckled; as, a girdle of fine linen; a leathern girdle.
2. Inclosure; circumference. Within the girdle of these walls. Shak.
3. The zodiac. Bacon.
4. A round iron plate for baking. [Qu. griddle.] Pegge.
5. Among jewelers, the line which encompasses the stone, parallel to the horizon. Cyc.

GIRD'LE, v.t.

1. To bind with a belt or sash; to gird. Shak.
2. To inclose; to environ; to shut in. Shak.
3. In America, to make a circular incision, like a belt, through the bark and alburnum of a tree to kill it. New England. Belknap. Dwight.

GIRD'LE-BELT, n.

A belt that encircles the waist. Dryden.

GIRD'LED, pp.

Bound with a belt or sash.

GIRD'LER, n.

One who girdles; a maker of girdles. Beaum.