n. 1 a stinging often flesh-eating insect of the order Hymenoptera, esp. the common social wasp Vespa vulgaris, with black and yellow stripes and a very thin waist. 2 (in comb.) any of various insects resembling a wasp in some way (wasp-beetle). wasp-waist a very slender waist. wasp-waisted having a very slender waist. wasplike adj.
[ OE wfs, wps, wsp, f. WG: perh. rel. to WEAVE(1) (from the weblike form of its nest) ]