Definition of "girth"

girth

/ɡɜːθ/

noun
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1929, Baldwyn Dyke Acland, chapter 8, in Filibuster‎
2. The part of an animal around which the girth fits.
3. (informal) One's waistline circumference, most often a large one.
  Quotations
  He's a lusty, jolly fellow, that lives well, at least three yards in the girth.
  1716 March 16 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 22. Monday, March 5. ”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721
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.
verb
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.