waist
noun/weɪst/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wǣst, *weaxt, *wæhst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weks- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle English wacste (“growth, increase, might, power”), Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”), Swedish växt (“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur (“growth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌷𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan (“to grow, increase”). More at wax.
A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
Nautical, Transport That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
- There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 18”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
The middle part of anything.
- The waist of a bell widens into the lip.
- In the dead vast and middle of the nightc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Derived terms
26 terms
dropped waist, drop waist, emancipation waist, empire-waist, empire waist, pantywaist, paperbag waist, sheer-to-waist, shirt waist, shirtwaist, shirt-waist, snatched waist, strip to the waist, waist bag, waistband, waist card, waist chain, waist cincher, waistcoat, waist-deep, waist-deep in the Big Muddy, waist-high, waistless, waistline, waist overalls, wasp waist