стан waist, torso, body

waist
Он тихо обнял стройный её стан и тихо привлёк её к своему сердцу. [А. Пушкин, Дубровский] He slowly encircled her shapely waist, and slowly drew her to his breast. [A. Pushkin, "Dubrovsky"]
torso
[Он] мгновенно охватил глазами её облечённый в белую кофту и тёмную юбку стройный стан с гибкой и сильной талией. [А. Фадеев, Молодая гвардия] In an instant his eyes captured her well-built, white-sweatered and dark-skirted torso with its lithe, strong waist. [A. Fadeev, The Young Guard]
body
... она повернулась на стуле, легко и естественно изогнула длинный стан, достала с буфета сзади пепельницу... [В. Набоков, Дар] ... she turned in her chair, easily and naturally twisted her long body, obtained an ashtray from the sideboard behind her... [V. Nabokov, The Gift]

Semantics

This entry is concerned with the use of the word стан to refer to the part of a human torso from the lower ribs to the upper abdomen as an element of the figure or to the upper portion of the torso, e.g. длинный стан "a long waist." This word is used in poetic style to describe the shape of someone's body and also certain gestures and movements involving someone's waist. It does not refer to animals.

Morphology

стан SS m.in.noun

Use of prepositions: со vs. с

The variant со rather than с is used with the word стан.

Syntax

Syntactic actants

Actant 1: whose waist it is
(a) Genitive
(b) Possessive
Стан девушки был тонкий и гибкий. The girl's waist was slender and lithe.
Широкий пояс охватывал её стан. The wide belt encircled her waist.
NB When the word стан functions as a subject and does not have a descriptive modifier, the construction стан у + Genitive is often preferred to (a) and (b), above:
Стан у девушки был тонкий и гибкий. The girl's waist was slender and lithe.

Lexical Relationships

Synonyms

талия waist (the middle section of the torso)

Size, shape, and other properties

NB The word стан is used only with those adjectives that refer to positive properties of the person's figure.
тонкий стан a slender waist
длинный стан a long waist
стройный стан a shapely waist
изящный стан an elegant waist
гибкий стан a lithe waist
Николай Петрович представил его Базарову: Павел Петрович слегка наклонил свой гибкий стан и слегка улыбнулся... [И. Тургенев, Отцы и дети] Nikolai Petrovich introduced him to Bazarov: Pavel Petrovich inclined his lithe torso slightly, and gave a small smile... [I. Turgenev, Fathers and Sons]

Movements

изгибать/изогнуть станa to bend at the waist
брать/взять: Nn1 берёт Na2 за станa;
обнимать/обнять: Nn1 обнимает Na2 за станa 		N1 grasps N2 around the waist
NB Usually N1 denotes a man and N2 a woman.

Other expressions

охватывать [no Pf.]: Nn охватывает станa N encircles someone's waist
NB N = пояс "sash," ремень "belt," etc.

Sample texts

... стройный, тонкий стан его и широкие плечи доказывали крепкое сложение. [М. Лермонтов, Максим Максимыч] ... his well-built, slender waist and broad shoulders gave proof of his strong constitution. [M. Lermontov, "Maksim Maksimych"]