waist

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“
Around his waist was a rawhide belt from which dangled a small black book and a red-handled dagger.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun The part of the human trunk between the bottom of the rib cage and the pelvis.
  2. noun The narrow part of the abdomen of an insect.
  3. noun The part of a garment that encircles the waist of the body.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • A pair of grubby shorts or a faded regulation suit rolled negligently about the waist was the modern version of Cherwell fashions for men; for women, a sun-bathing costume with (for the tender-footed) a pair of gaily-coloured beach-sandals. —  Gaudy Night Dorothy L Sayers -3rd Lord Peter WImsey/Harriet Vane book
  • Bound his waist was a blue-and-gold sash, from which protruded the silver hilt of his J-shaped Zanzibar dagger. —  Sacrifice
  • Around his waist was a belt holding a pair, of pistols and a knife What's the matter, man?" —  Frank Merriwell's Pursuit How to Win
  • From the fine drawn-work, the hand-made tucks, to the tiny irreproachable buttonholes, the waist was a triumph of the needlewoman's art It's the prettiest one I ever had!" —  Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party
  • A bulky, ragged length of cloth around the waist was the only garment. —  Planet of the Damned
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English wast, perhaps from Old English *wæst, growth, size; see aug- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly waste, wast; from Middle English wast, waste, from Anglo-Saxon *wǣst, wǣxt, literally ‘growth,’ ‘size’ (= Icelandic vöxtr, stature, = Swedish växt =Danish væxt, growth, size, =Gothic (Moesogothic) wahstus, growth, increase, stature; cf. Anglo-Saxon wæstm, rarely westm, earlier wǣstm, growth, fruit, produce, = German wachsthum, growth), from weaxan, grow: see wax.
 

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/weɪst/
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