/ · 1894 Brewer’s · S · Saophron
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The girdle worn by Grecian women, whether married or not. The bridegroom loosed the bride’s girdle, whence “to loose the girdle” came to mean to deflower a woman, and a prostitute was called “a woman whose girdle is unloosed” (Γυνὴ λυσἱζωνος).
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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