waist

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The part of the human trunk between the bottom of the rib cage and the pelvis.
• noun The narrow part of the abdomen of an insect.
• noun The part of a garment that encircles the waist of the body.
• noun The upper part of a garment, extending from the shoulders to the waistline, especially the bodice of a woman's dress.
• noun Archaic A blouse.
• noun The middle section or part of an object, especially when narrower than the rest.
• noun Nautical The middle part of the upper deck of a ship between the forecastle and the quarterdeck.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In archery, the narrow middle or handle in a broad flat bow. Bows of this double-paddle shape are used by some primitive peoples.
• noun The part of the human body between the chest and the hips; the smaller or more compressible section of the trunk below the ribs and above the haunch-bones, including most of the abdomen and the loins.
• noun Something worn around the waist or body, as a belt or girdle.
• noun A garment covering the waist or trunk.
• noun Figuratively, that which surrounds like a girdle.
• noun That part of any object which bears some analogy to the human waist, somewhere near the middle of its height or length.
• noun Especially—
• noun The narrowest part of the body of musical instruments of the violin kind, formed by the bouts, or inward curves of the ribs near the middle of the body.
• noun Nautical, the central part of a ship.
• noun The middle part of a period of time.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun 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.
• noun A garment, or part of a garment, which covers the body from the neck or shoulders to the waist line.
• noun obsolete A girdle or belt for the waist.
• noun See Sheet anchor, 1, in the Vocabulary.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips
• noun the narrow part of the shoe connecting the heel and the wide part of the sole