Meaning

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

originInherited from Middle English wast (“waist”), probably from Old English *wæst, *wǣst, *weaxt, *wæhst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz (“growth, development, stature, build”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weks- (“to multiply, increase”). Cognate with Middle English wacste (“growth, increase, might, power”), Middle High German wahst (“growth”), Danish vækst (“growth”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0