Wait
Pronunciation
- IPA: /weɪt/
- Rhymes: -eɪt
- Homophones: weight
Alternative forms
Origin
From Middle English waiten, wayten, from Old Northern French waiter, waitier (compare French guetter from Old French gaiter, guaitier), from Old Frankish *wahtÅn, *wahtjan ("to watch, guard"), derivative of *wahta ("guard, watch"), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwÅ ("guard, watch"), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- ("to be fresh, cheerful, awake"). Cognate with Old High German wahtÄ“n ("to watch, guard"), Dutch wachten ("to wait, expect"), French guetter ("to watch out for"), North Frisian wachtjen ("to stand, stay put"). More at watch.
Full definition of wait
Verb
- (transitive, now rare) To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)
- DrydenAwed with these words, in camps they still abide,
And wait with longing looks their promised guide. - 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 30:The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Å’il de Boeuf.
- (intransitive) To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
- John MiltonThey also serve who only stand and wait.
- John DrydenHaste, my dear father; 'tis no time to wait.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
- Wait here until your car arrives.
- (intransitive, US) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.She used to wait down at the Dew Drop Inn.
- (obsolete) To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.
- DrydenHe chose a thousand horse, the flower of all
His warlike troops, to wait the funeral. - RoweRemorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee,
And everlasting anguish be thy portion. - (obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.
- (obsolete) To defer or postpone (a meal).to wait dinner
Usage notes
In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See
Synonyms
- (delay until event) hold one's breath
Derived terms
Noun
wait
(plural waits)- A delay.I had a very long wait at the airport security check.
- An ambush.They laid in wait for the patrol.
- Miltonan enemy in wait
- (obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.
- (in the plural, obsolete, UK) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.
- (in the plural, archaic, UK) Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. waites, wayghtes.
- unknown date Beaumont and FletcherHark! are the waits abroad?
- unknown date Washington IrvingThe sound of the waits, rude as may be their minstrelsy, breaks upon the mild watches of a winter night with the effect of perfect harmony.