Wait

Definition of Wait

v. i.1.
[imp. & p. p. Waited; p. pr. & vb. n. Waiting.]
1.To watch; to observe; to take notice.
"But [unless] ye wait well and be privy,
I wot right well, I am but dead," quoth she.
- Chaucer.
2.To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary till the arrival of some person or event; to rest in patience; to stay; not to depart.
All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
- Job xiv. 14.
They also serve who only stand and wait.
- Milton.
Haste, my dear father; 't is no time to wait.
- Dryden.
To wait on
a - To attend, as a servant; to perform services for; as, to wait on a gentleman; to wait on the table.
b - To attend; to go to see; to visit on business or for ceremony.
- Milton.
c - To follow, as a consequence; to await.
d - To look watchfully at; to follow with the eye; to watch.
- Dr. H. More.
e - To attend to; to perform.
- Bacon.
f - (Falconry) To fly above its master, waiting till game is sprung; - said of a hawk.
- Num. iii. 10.
v. t.1.To stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of; to await; as, to wait orders.
Awed with these words, in camps they still abide,
And wait with longing looks their promised guide.
- Dryden.
2.To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany; to await.
3.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.
- Dryden.
Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee,
And everlasting anguish be thy portion.
- Rowe.
4.To cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; - said of a meal; as, to wait dinner.
n.1.
1.The act of waiting; a delay; a halt.
There is a wait of three hours at the border Mexican town of El Paso.
- S. B. Griffin.
2.Ambush.
3.One who watches; a watchman.
4.Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used in the singular.
5.Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen.
Hark! are the waits abroad?
- Beau. & Fl.
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.
- W. Irving.
To lay wait
to prepare an ambuscade.
To lie in wait
See under 4th Lie.

Related Words

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