[F. taille (12th c.) cut: see TAIL sb.2]
1. Cut, shape, form; shape of the bust from the shoulders to the waist; figure, build, make. In Dress-making, the waist or bodice of a gown; the style or fit of this.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 13 July. Mrs. Stewart,… with her sweet eye, little Roman nose, and excellent taille, is now the greatest beauty I ever saw.
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV. vi. You would not think it impossible a person of a worse taille than mine might be a modern man of quality.
2. In old French law, a tax: see TAIL sb.2 2 b.
