garter

Etymology

From Middle English garter, from Old Northern French gartier, from Old French garet (compare Old French jartier, from jaret), from Gaulish *garrā, from Proto-Celtic *garros (“calf, shank”) (compare Cornish gar, Cornish gar,Middle Welsh garr, Old Irish gairr). Cognate with French jarretière.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːtə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːɹtɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Noun

garter (plural garters)

1. A band worn around the leg to hold up a sock or stocking.
2. (heraldry) A bendlet.

   Coordinate terms: bendlet, cost, riband

Verb

garter (third-person singular simple present garters, present participle gartering, simple past and past participle gartered)

1. (transitive) to fasten with a garter
2. (intransitive) To wear a garter
   • 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 385:

     Lady Hester loathed the coarse, deluded and lecherous Princess Caroline, who showed off to Smith by 'dancing about, exposing herself, like an opera girl', and even gartering below the knee:

Anagrams

• Trager, garret, grater

Alternative forms

• gartere, gartier, gertier

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French gartier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡartər/, /ɡarˈteːr/

Noun

garter (plural garters)

1. garter