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单词 wait
释义

wait

See also: Wait and wäit

English

Alternative forms

  • (obsolete) waight

Etymology

From Middle English waiten, wayten, from Old Northern French 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.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /weɪt/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /weɪt/, [weɪ̯ʔt]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪt
  • Homophone: weight

Verb

wait (third-person singular simple present waits, present participle waiting, simple past and past participle waited)

  1. (transitive, now rare) To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)
    • 1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
      Awed 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, page 30:
      The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.
  2. (intransitive) To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
    • 1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XVI. When I Consider How My Light is Spent.”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], OCLC 1050806759, page 59:
      They also serve who only stand and wait.
    • 1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
      Haste, my dear father; 'tis no time to wait.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, page 46:
      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.
  3. (intransitive, stative, US) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
    She used to wait in this joint.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.
    • 1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
      He chose a thousand horse, the flower of all / His warlike troops, to wait the funeral.
    • 1714, Nicholas Rowe, The Tragedy of Jane Shore
      Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, / And everlasting anguish be thy portion.
  5. (obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.
  6. (obsolete, colloquial) To defer or postpone (especially a meal).
    • 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview 2004, p. 185:
      Montague Thorold, who impatiently watched her wherever she went, came to tell her that his mother waited breakfast for her.
  7. (intransitive) To remain faithful to one’s partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence.
    • 1957,Dagny Taggart and Francisco d'Anconia, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
      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."
    • 1974, The Bee Gees, Night Fever
      I will wait / Even if it takes forever / I will wait / Even if it takes a lifetime

Usage notes

  • In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

  • (delay until): await, wait for; See also Thesaurus:wait for
  • (delay until some event): hold one's breath; See also Thesaurus:wait
  • (serve customers): wait on, wait upon, serve
  • (attend with ceremony or respect): bestand, serve, tend; See also Thesaurus:serve
  • (attend as a consequence): attend, escort, go with
  • (defer or postpone): defer, postpone; See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
  • (remain celibate):

Derived terms

Terms derived from wait (verb)
  • can't wait
  • hurry up and wait
  • wait around
  • waiter
  • wait for
  • waiting room
  • wait on
  • waitperson
  • waitress
  • waitron
  • wait staff
  • wait state
  • wait tables

Translations

transitive: delay until — see await

Noun

wait (plural waits)

  1. A delay.
    I had a very long wait at the airport security check.
  2. An ambush.
    They lay in wait for the patrol.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
      an enemy in wait
  3. (computing) Short for wait state.
  4. (obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.
  5. (in the plural, obsolete, UK) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.
    • 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book XVII]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], OCLC 12997447:
      […] as he returned home to his owne house, the waits should sound the hautboies all the way
  6. (in the plural, UK) Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. [formerly waites, wayghtes.]
    • 1609–1612, Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “The Captaine”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, Act II, scene ii:
      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.
  • wake
  • watch

Translations

Interjection

wait

  1. (informal) Tells the other speaker to stop talking, typing etc. for a moment.
    Wait. Stop talking for a moment while I get my head straight.

Derived terms

  • wait a minute

Anagrams

  • WTAI

Elfdalian

Etymology

From Old Norse hvítr, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz. Cognate with Swedish vit.

Adjective

wait

  1. white

Gothic

Romanization

wait

  1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍄

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English white.

Adjective

wait

  1. white

Westrobothnian

Alternative forms

  • weit

Etymology

From Old Norse hveiti.

Noun

wait n (definite singular waite)

  1. wheat (Triticum)
  2. wheat bread
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