waist

nouncommon in dialogue

//weɪst//

The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.

noun

1
The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
2
A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
3
The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
4
The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
5
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.
6
The middle part of anything.
The waist of a bell widens into the lip.
In the dead vast and middle of the night

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.

Forms

plural: waists

wail · To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.Wail · A locality in the Rural City of Horsham, western Victoria,…wailing · A loud drawn out scream or howl.

waist · The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.

wait · To delay movement or action until some event or time; to…Wait · A surname.waiter · A male or female attendant who serves customers at their…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.