waist
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English waste, wast (“stature, waist”), from Old English wǣst, *wǣxt, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg-s- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with 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.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
waist (plural waists)
- The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
- A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
- The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
- The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
- (nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 18
- There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 18
- (obsolete) The middle part of anything.
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
- In the dead vast and middle of the night
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- → Japanese: ウエスト (uesuto)
Translations[edit]
part of the body
|
|
part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist
narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects
|
middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft
nautical: upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle
middle part of anything
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading[edit]
Waist in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
Waist on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams[edit]
Gothic[edit]
Romanization[edit]
waist
- Romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄
Scots[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
waist (plural waists)
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂weg-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *-tus
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪst
- Rhymes:English/eɪst/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Nautical
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- Gothic non-lemma forms
- Gothic romanizations
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
- Scots lemmas
- Scots nouns