torso

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the central part of the human body, excluding the head, neck, and limbs

   The life jacket should fit snugly around the torso.

2. 2
   noun

   the trunk of a statue, especially one surviving or represented without its head and limbs

   The gallery displayed a marble torso recovered from the ruined temple.

Simplified etymology

Torso was borrowed from Italian in the late 18th century; the Italian word meant “stalk” or “stump.”

Borrowed from Italian torso ("trunk, stump"), from Late Latin tursus and Latin thyrsus, ultimately Greek thyrsos ("stalk, stem"). English first used it for the trunk of a statue, then for the central part of a living body.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary