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diers in the 17th century as a defensive covering. -- Buff jerkin, originally, a leather waistcoat; afterward, one of cloth of a buff color. [Obs.] Nares. -- Buff stick (Mech.), a strip of wood covered with buff leather, used in polishing.

The portion of the human figure included between the head and waist, whether in statuary or in the person; the chest or thorax; the upper part of the trunk of the body.

A kind of pad or cushion worn on the back below the waist, by women, to give fullness to the skirts; -- called also bishop, and tournure.

A glossy woolen stuff, plain, striped, or checked. "a gay calamanco waistcoat." Tatler.

A strong vessel with a narrow stern, projecting quarters, and deep waist. It is employed in the coal and timber trade.

An ornamental hook, or brooch worn by a lady at her waist, and having a short chain or chains attached for a watch, keys, trinkets, etc. Also used adjectively; as, a chatelaine chain.

The garment for the legs and feet and for the body below the waist, worn in Europe throughout the Middle Ages; applied also to the armor for the same parts, when fixible, as of chain mail.

To bring into a narrow compass; to compress. How the strait stays the slender waist constrain. Gay.

The waist or bodice of a lady's dress; as. a low corsage.

An article of dress inclosing the chest and waist worn (chiefly by women) to support the body or to modify its shape; stays.

A sash for the waist; a girdle. [India]

a curved form; to make a curl or curls. "Cirling billows." Dryden. Then round her slender waist he curled. Dryden. Curling smokes from village tops are seen. Pope. Gayly curl the waves before each dashing prow. Byron. He smiled a king of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor. Bret Harte. . 358

or gentle usage and soft delicacy. Milton. Iwould be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. Tennyson.

A close-fitting garment for men, covering the body from the neck to the waist or a little below. It was worn in Western Europe from the 15th to the 17th century.

The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.

Incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable; that can not be sounded. And buckle in a waist most fathomless. Shak.

A little band, especially one intended to encircle the hair of the head. A belt her waist, a fillet binds her hair. Pope.

hich to enter or leave a vessel. (b) A plank within or without the bulwarks of a vessel's waist, for the sentinel to walk on. -- Gang cask, a small cask in which to bring water aboard ships or in which it is kept on deck. -- Gang cultivator, Gang plow, a cultivator or plow in which several shares are attached to one…

h side of the booms, from the quarter-deck to the forecastle; -- more properly termed the waist. Totten. Gangway ladder, a ladder rigged on the side of a vessel at the gangway. -- To bring to the gangway, to punish (a seaman) by flogging him at the gangway.

rence; a belt; esp., a belt, sash, or article of dress encircling the body usually at the waist; a cestus. Within the girdle of these walls. Shak. Their breasts girded with golden girdles. Rev. xv. 6.