waistline

English

Etymology

waist +‎ line

Pronunciation

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Noun

waistline (plural waistlines)

1. a line around the body at the waist; its measurement
2. the narrowest part of a garment, usually at the waist, but may be above or below depending on the dictates of fashion or the whim of the designer
3. (slang) person having a large waistline
4. The horizontal line just below the windows of a car or other vehicle.
   • 1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw and Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 396:

     [...] with the adoption of a curved bodyside profile Bulleid considerably raised the height of the waistline and at the shoulder height of seated passengers, just where the extra space was most needed.

Synonyms

• (a line around the body at the waist): (informal) girth

Coordinate terms

• empire waist

Translations

line around the body at the waist; its measurement

• Danish: talje c, taljemål n
• Dutch: taillelijn f, taille (nl) f
• Esperanto: talio (eo)
• Finnish: vyötärölinja
• French: tour de taille (fr) m

• German: Taille (de) f
• Italian: girovita (it) m, vita (it) f
• Japanese: 胴回り (dōmawari)
• Russian: та́лия (ru) f (tálija)

narrowest part of a garment

• Danish: talje c
• Finnish: vyötärölinja
• German: Taille (de) f

• Japanese: ウエスト (uesuto)
• Russian: та́лия (ru) f (tálija)

person having a large waistline