Wasp-waisted
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Having a very slim waist, especially as a result of tightly-laced clothing.
"Last week she had opened a door by mistake on a staircase in Bayswater and a woman in a tight black waspwaisted corset, pearls lolling between two great naked breasts, stood by a cage made of gold wire the size of a fourposter bed, in which were a dozen or so brilliantly fringed and tinted birds."
- 1 having a small waist wordnet
Example
More examples"Last week she had opened a door by mistake on a staircase in Bayswater and a woman in a tight black waspwaisted corset, pearls lolling between two great naked breasts, stood by a cage made of gold wire the size of a fourposter bed, in which were a dozen or so brilliantly fringed and tinted birds."
Etymology
Referring to the slender petiole of a wasp.
More for "wasp-waisted"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.