GARTER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Garter

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/gˈɑrtər/ Listen

noun

Garter n.

1.

A band used to prevent a stocking from slipping down on the leg.

2.

The distinguishing badge of the highest order of knighthood in Great Britain, called the Order of the Garter, instituted by Edward III.; also, the Order itself.

3.

(Her.) Same as Bendlet.

Garter fish (Zool.), a fish of the genus Lepidopus, having a long, flat body, like the blade of a sword; the scabbard fish.

Garter king-at-arms, the chief of the official heralds of England, king-at-arms to the Order of the Garter; often abbreviated to Garter.

Garter snake (Zool.), one of several harmless American snakes of the genus Eutaenia, of several species (esp. E. saurita and E. sirtalis); one of the striped snakes; so called from its conspicuous stripes of color.

verb

Garter v. t. (past & past part. gartered; pres. part. gartering)

1.

To bind with a garter. "He... could not see to garter his hose."

2.

To invest with the Order of the Garter.

See images of 'Garter'

Etymology of 'Garter'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Garter" Quotes from Famous Books

... was sure of that. All the comely maidens were Carlists. In the service of the King the most successful crimps were "dashing white sergeants" in garter and girdle. And she took me for an interesting Carlist fugitive, and she was determined to aid in my escape. How ravishing! She was a Flora Macdonald, and I—would be a Pretender. I had fully wound myself up to that as we entered ...

— Romantic Spain - A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. II) • John Augustus O'Shea

... have, little sister, but don't you tell—it's a blue garter. And my handkerchief is old and borrowed from my mother. It was her wedding handkerchief—so you see it's all right. I'm glad you wished me ...

— Chicken Little Jane • Lily Munsell Ritchie

... of yore, invite a glance through the opera-glass by other audacious devices. One is the first to hit on a rosette in her hair with a diamond in the centre, and she attracts every eye for a whole evening; another revives the hair-net, or sticks a dagger through the twist to suggest a garter; this one wears velvet bands round her wrists, that one appears in lace lippets. These valiant efforts, an Austerlitz of vanity or of love, then set the fashion for lower spheres by the time the inventive creatress has originated something new. This evening, which ...

— Cousin Betty • Honore de Balzac

... Verrio, Thornhill and Grinling Gibbons. The Revolution again brought him into prominence. He was one of the seven who signed the original paper inviting the prince of Orange from Holland, and was the first nobleman who appeared in arms to receive him at his landing. He received the order of the Garter on the occasion of the coronation, and was made lord high steward of the new court. In 1690 he accompanied King William on his visit to Holland. He was created marquis of Hartington and duke of Devonshire in 1694 by William and Mary, ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 - "Destructors" to "Diameter" • Various

... Lord Lambert?' She said, 'He is gone; but I cannot tell whither.' Whereupon he caused her to rise, and carried her before the officer in the Tower, and [she] was committed to custody. Some said that a lady knit for him a garter of silk, by which he was conveyed down, and that she received L100 for ...

— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

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