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wait

verb
/weɪt//weɪt/US

Etymology

From Middle English waiten, from Anglo-Norman waiter, waitier (compare French guetter from Old French gaitier, guaitier), from Frankish *wahtwēn (“to watch, guard”), derivative of Frankish *wahtu (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Cognate with Old High German wahtēn (“to watch, guard”), German Low German wachten (“to wait”), Dutch wachten (“to wait, expect”), French guetter (“to watch out for”), Saterland Frisian wachtje (“to wait”), West Frisian wachtsje (“to wait”), North Frisian wachtjen (“to stand, stay put”). More at watch. In some senses, merged or influenced by Middle English waiten, weiten (“to do good to, lie in wait for, to contrive good or harm on, catch, snare”), from Old Norse veita (“to give help to, assist, grant, cause to happen”), from Proto-Germanic *waitijaną (“to show, guide, advise, direct”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Largely overtook native Middle English biden, from Old English bīdan, source of bide.

  1. derived from *weyd-✻ — “to see, know”
  2. derived from *waitijaną✻ — “to show, guide, advise, direct”
  3. derived from veita — “to give help to, assist, grant, cause to happen”
  4. derived from *weǵ-✻ — “to be fresh, cheerful, awake”
  5. derived from *wahtwō✻ — “guard, watch”
  6. derived from *wahtu✻ — “guard, watch”
  7. derived from *wahtwēn✻ — “to watch, guard”
  8. derived from waiter
  9. inherited from waiten

Definitions

  1. To delay movement or action until some event or time

    To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.

    • Wait here until your car arrives.
    • I’m still waiting for you to pay me back the money I lent you..
    • They also serve who only stand and wait.

  2. To wait tables

    To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.

    • She used to wait in this joint.

  3. To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of

    To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)

    • to wait one’s turn
    • Awed with these words, in camps they still abide, / And wait with longing looks their promised guide.
    • The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.
  4. ›+ 13 more definitions

    1. To attend on

      To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.

      • He chose a thousand horse, the flower of all / His warlike troops, to wait the funeral.
      • Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, / And everlasting anguish be thy portion.

    2. To attend as a consequence

      To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.

    3. To defer or postpone (especially a meal).

      • Montague Thorold, who impatiently watched her wherever she went, came to tell her that his mother waited breakfast for her.

    4. To watch with malicious intent

      To watch with malicious intent; to lie in wait

    5. To remain faithful to one’s partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence.

      • She did not question him. Before leaving, she asked only, "When will I see you again?" He answered, "I don't know. Don't wait for me, Dagny. Next time we meet, you will not want to see me."
      • I will wait / Even if it takes forever / I will wait / Even if it takes a lifetime

    6. A delay.

      • I had a very long wait at the airport security check.

    7. An ambush.

      • They lay in wait for the patrol.
      • an enemy in wait

    8. Ellipsis of wait state.

    9. One who watches

      One who watches; a watchman.

    10. Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.

      • […]as he returned home to his owne house, the waits should sound the hautboies all the way

    11. Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time

      Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen.

      • Hark! are the waits abroad?
      • 1819-1820, Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon The 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.
      • […] the waits begin their rounds, and going from house to house, […] they sing carols and Christmas hymns until […] another Christmas-day has dawned.[…]

    12. Tells the other speaker to stop talking, typing etc. for a moment, often to allow…

      Tells the other speaker to stop talking, typing etc. for a moment, often to allow clarification.

      • - And so I went upstairs— - Wait. Your house has two floors?

    13. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

busy wait, lie in wait, lying in wait, two-week wait, wait-free, wait time, wait unemployment

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at wait. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01wait02superseded03supersede04updated05update06modification07prescribing08prescribe09patient

A definitional loop anchored at wait. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at wait

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA