waist

• POS: Noun
• COUNT in NET: 17 in 15 verses (in OT : 14 in 12 verses) (in NT : 3 in 3 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

waist, n. [OE. wast; originally, growth, akin to AS. weaxan to grow; cf. AS. wæstm growth. See Wax to grow.].

•  That part of the human body which is immediately below the ribs or thorax; the small part of the body between the thorax and hips.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "I am in the waist two yards about."  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, the middle part of other bodies; especially (Naut.), that part of a vessel's deck, bulwarks, etc., which is between the quarter-deck and the forecastle; the middle part of the ship.  [1913 Webster]
•  A garment, or part of a garment, which covers the body from the neck or shoulders to the waist line.  [1913 Webster]
•  A girdle or belt for the waist.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Waist anchor. See Sheet anchor, 1, in the Vocabulary.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

waist, n.
1 a the part of the human body below the ribs and above the hips, usu. of smaller circumference than these; the narrower middle part of the normal human figure. b the circumference of this.
2 a similar narrow part in the middle of a violin, hourglass, wasp, etc.
3 a the part of a garment encircling or covering the waist. b the narrow middle part of a woman's dress etc. c US a blouse or bodice.
4 the middle part of a ship, between the forecastle and the quarterdeck.

Idiom

waist-cloth a loincloth. waist-deep (or -high) up to the waist (waist-deep in water).

Derivative

waisted adj. (also in comb.). waistless adj.

Etymology

ME wast, perh. f. OE f. the root of WAX(2)

THESAURUS

waist

blouse, bodice, center, core, corsage, diameter, diaphragm, dickey, equator, heart, interior, kernel, linen, mean, median, middle, midmost, midriff, midst, nucleus, shift, shirt, thick, thick of things, waistline, zone

ROGET THESAURUS

waist

Thinness

N narrowness, thinness, narrowness, closeness, exility, exiguity, line, hair's breadth, finger's breadth, strip, streak, vein, monolayer, epitaxial deposition, thinness, tenuity, emaciation, macilency, marcor, shaving, slip, thread paper, skeleton, shadow, anatomy, spindleshanks, lantern jaws, mere skin and bone, middle constriction, stricture, neck, waist, isthmus, wasp, hourglass, ridge, ghaut, ghat, pass, ravine, narrowing, coarctation, angustation, tapering, contraction, narrow, close, slender, thin, fine, thread-like, finespun, gossamer, paper-thin, taper, slim, slight-made, scant, scanty, spare, delicate, incapacious, contracted, unexpanded &c (expand), slender as a thread, emaciated, lean, meager, gaunt, macilent, lank, lanky, weedy, skinny, scrawny slinky, starved, starveling, herring gutted, worn to a shadow, lean as a rake, thin as a lath, thin as a whipping post, thin as a wafer, hatchet-faced, lantern-jawed, attenuated, shriveled, extenuated, tabid, marcid, barebone, rawboned, monomolecular.