The waist is the part of the abdomen between the rib cage and hips. On proportionate people, the waist is the narrowest part of the torso.
The waistline refers to the horizontal line where the waist is narrowest, or to the general appearance of the waist. People who diet are often said to be trying to "improve" their waistline.
Women tend to have narrower waists than men.
Read more about Waist: Fashion, Waist-hip Ratio, Waist Measurement, Waist Reduction and Training
Famous quotes containing the word waist:
“She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder, so much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“... women can never do efficient and general service in hospitals until their dress is prescribed by laws inexorable as those of the Medes and Persians. Then, that dress should be entirely destitute of steel, starch, whale-bone, flounces, and ornaments of all descriptions; should rest on the shoulders, have a skirt from the waist to the ankle, and a waist which leaves room for breathing.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“Down from the waist they are centaurs,
Though women all above;
But to the girdle do the gods inherit,
Beneath is all the fiends’: there’s hell, there’s darkness,
There is the sulphurous pit, burning, scalding,
Stench, consumption.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)