different between waist vs waisting

English

Alternative forms

• waste, wast (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English waste, wast (“stature, waist”), from Old English w?st, *w?xt, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?weg-s- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”), Swedish växt (“growth, development, size”), Icelandic vöxtur (“growth”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (wahstus, “growth”). Related to Old English weaxan (“to grow, increase”). More at wax.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we?st/
• Rhymes: -e?st
• Homophone: waste

Noun

waist (plural waists)

1. The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
2. A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
3. The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
4. The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
5. (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.

6. (obsolete) The middle part of anything.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ???? (uesuto)

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Swati, Waits, waits

Gothic

Romanization

waist

1. Romanization of ????????????????????

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /west/
• (Mid Northern Scots) IPA^(key): /w?ist/

Noun

waist (plural waists)

1. waist

English

Etymology

waist +? -ing

Noun

waisting (plural waistings)

1. That which goes at the waist (of a person, as on a garment, or of an object).

   The decorative material used as waisting also served as a girdle for her midlife expansion.

2. A failure in mechanical testing, where part of the testpiece becomes narrow.

Usage notes

• Often a misspelling of wasting.

Anagrams

• waitings