girdlestead

plural girdlesteads

1. obsoleteThat part of the body where the girdle is worn, i.e. the waist.

   [T]hey have made me swell above the girdle-stead.

   c. 1604–1626, doubtfully attributed to Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Faithful Friends”, in Henry [William] Weber, editor, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, in Fourteen Volumes: […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington; […], published 1812, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 72

   2 more examples

   [D]iuide your ſelfe in two halfes, iuſt by the girdleſtead; […]

   1605 August (first performance), Geo[rge] Chapman, Ben Ionson, Ioh[n] Marston, Eastward Hoe. […], London: […] [George Eld] for William Aspley, published September 1605, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, signature E, recto

   [T]he Lance his target tooke, / Which could not interrupt the blow, that through it cleerly ſtrooke, / And in his bellies rimme was ſheath’d, beneath his girdle-ſtead; […]

   [1611?], Homer, “The Fifth Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, page 74