a. Having the waist very slender, esp. as the result of tight-lacing.
1775. Mrs. Delany, Lett., Ser. II. II. 160. I hope Miss Sparrow will not fall into the absurd fashion of ye wasp-waisted ladies.
1827. N. R. Smith, in Vermont Statesman, 1 Aug., 1/4. I know not which would appear the most ridiculous in the eyes of the other, the wasp-waisted lady of our own country, or the Chinese belle, with a foot no bigger than a mandarin’s thumb.
1839. Duncan, in Congr. Globe, Jan. App. 104/2. A thousand of the wasp-waisted gentry to quell the Democracy of Pennsylvania—monstrous!!!
1892. Daily News, 7 Sept., 6/4. These young women … are not wasp-waisted.
transf. 1867. G. Musgrave, Nooks & Corners Old France, II. 147. I saw several wasp-waisted windmills.
