The Collaborative International Dictionary
Waister \Waist"er\, n. (Naut.)
A seaman, usually a green hand or a broken-down man,
stationed in the waist of a vessel of war.
--R. H. Dana, Jr.
Wiktionary
n. (context nautical English) A seaman stationed in the waist of a warship.
Usage examples of "waister".
That was not what any man aboard, from officer to lowly waister, wanted to hear.
A yelping master's mate came running up with a small pack of waisters at his heels.
The seamen, who had been standing about in amorphous groups, taking great care of their best, beautifully washed, ironed and often embroidered clothes, now hurried to form lines according to their various divisions - forecastlemen, topmen, gunners and afterguard only, for the Surprise had no waisters - toeing well-known seams on either side of the quarterdeck, on the gangways and the forecastle.
His only difficulty with this crew of man-of-war's men, in which even the waisters could hand, reef and steer, was preserving it from the port-admiral.