waist

«waist» in Mova's school dictionary: the middle part of your body, between your ribs and your… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (waist, waists)

meaning for a pupil

1) Your waist is the middle part of your body, between your ribs and your hips, usually the narrowest part, where a belt goes. tree →

2) The waist of a piece of clothing is the part that goes around your waist. tree →

sense in the lessons

Everyday life: trousers and skirts fit at the waist; in swimming lessons and at the beach, «waist-deep» water reaches your middle — a good guide for safety, because moving water can knock you over even at that depth. In science, measuring the waist with a tape measure is a maths activity (centimetres or inches). Phrases: around the waist, waist-deep, waistband, waistcoat, waist size.

examples

• She tied a ribbon around her waist. tree →
• The water was waist-deep, so we stayed close to the shore. tree →
• These jeans are too big at the waist. tree →
• Put your hands on your waist and bend to the side. tree →
• Measure your waist with a tape measure. tree →
• The dancer bent at the waist and bowed. tree →
• She clasped little Gerda round the waist, and said,-- tree →

note

Countable: waists. Homophone trap: «waist» (body part) sounds exactly like «waste» (rubbish, or to use badly) — «Don't waste food» vs «my waist». A «waistcoat» (UK) is a «vest» in the USA.

In the corpora

• "Love handles" is a joking name for fat around the waist.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «waist» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.