[ad. L. cinctūra girdle, f. cinct- ppl. stem of cing-ĕre to gird: see -URE.]
1. A girding, encompassing or encircling; enclosure, environment, compass, embrace, ‘girdle.’
1615. Chapman, Odyss., I. 32. He, That girds earth in the cincture of the sea.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. i. (1865), 242. A yet securer cincture of excluding garden walls.
1875. Merivale, Gen. Hist. Rome, i. (1877), 5. The seven hills were … united within the cincture of a single wall.
† b. spec. Cincture of sword: The girding on of a sword, as a ceremony of investiture with a dukedom or earldom. Obs.
1587. Churchyard, Worth. Wales (1876), 17. By cincture of a sword, we him ennoble reallie.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 249. By cincture of a sword invested him in the said Earldome.
1667. E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. III. iii. (1743), 163. A Duke is at this day created by Patent, anciently by cincture of sword.
† 2. concr. An enclosure, enclosed area. Obs. rare.
1627. Drayton, Sheph. Serena (R.). Nor flower is so sweet In this large cincture.
3. concr. That which encircles or encompasses. a. spec. A girdle or belt for the waist. (Mostly poetic, or in reference to ancient times.)
[1595. Shaks., John, IV. iii. 155 (Globe ed.), 350. Now happy he whose cloak and cincture can Hold out this tempest. See CENTURE.]
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 1117. Th’ American so girt With feathered Cincture, naked else and wilde.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, IV. 251. To draw the arrow from his cincture.
1814. Wordsw., White Doe, VII. 57. Her dress A vest with woollen cincture tied.
1853. Cdl. Wiseman, Ess., iii. 387. The alb and cincture which any minister could wear in a church of London or Bristol.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 350. Augustus … in the semi-nude cincture of a divinity.
b. Arch. ‘The ring, list, or fillet at the top and bottom of a column, which divides the shaft from the capital and base’ (Gwilt).
1696. Phillips, s.v., In Building, the Cincture is that part which makes the middle of the Baluster of the Ionick Order.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Cincture, or Ceinture.… The cincture is supposed to be an imitation of the girths, or ferils, antiently used to strengthen and preserve the primitive wooden columns.
c. gen. Anything that encompasses, as a band, fillet, ring, halo, etc.; an environment; a surrounding border or belt.
1715. trans. Pancirollus’ Rerum Mem., I. IV. v. 165. It [a Diadem] was a white Cincture, encircling the Heads both of Kings and Queens.
1855. Smedley, Occult Sc., 361. This golden cincture [a wedding-ring].
1859. J. Hedderwick, Lays Mid. Age, 81.
| The proud LISETTE has charms | |
| As sparkling as Aurora’s pearly gleams: | |
| Oh that her cincture were thy seeking arms! |
1861. Beresf. Hope, Eng. Cathedr. 19th C., 112. The chevet has a cincture of nine chapels.
1876. Gladstone, Homeric Synchr., 12. At various points on the cincture of the Mediterranean Sea.
