waist

• waste, wast (obsolete)

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 *h₂weg-s- (“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.

• IPA^(key): /weɪst/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -eɪst
• Homophone: waste

waist (plural waists)

2. (anatomy) The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
4. A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
5. The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
6. The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
7. (nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
   • 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:

     There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.

8. The middle part of anything.

   The waist of a bell widens into the lip.

   • c. 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]:

     In the dead vast and middle of the night

• → Japanese: ウエスト (uesuto)

• Waist in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Waist on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Waits, waits, Swati, Wasit

waist

1. romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄

waist

1. alternative form of wast (“waste (noun)”)

waist

1. alternative form of wast (“waist”)

waist

1. alternative form of wasten

Inherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wæxt, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstī, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz.

• IPA^(key): /west/
• (Doric Scots) IPA^(key): /wəist/

waist (plural waists)

1. waist