wait

See also: Wait and wäit

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /weɪt/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /weɪt/, [weɪ̯ʔt]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • (South Asia) IPA(key): /wɛjʈ/, (pane–pain merger) /weʈ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪt
  • Homophone: weight

Etymology 1

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.

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) 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..
  2. (intransitive, stative, US) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
    She used to wait in this joint.
  3. (transitive, now rare) To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)
    to wait one’s turn
    • 1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
      Awed with these words, in camps they still abide, / And wait with longing looks their promised guide.
    • 1916, John Buchan, Greenmantle, London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
      “There is a dry wind blowing through the East, and the parched grasses wait the spark.”
    • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 30:
      The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.
  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:
      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, published 2004, page 185:
      Montague Thorold, who impatiently watched her wherever she went, came to tell her that his mother waited breakfast for her.
  7. (obsolete, except in phrases) To watch with malicious intent; to lie in wait
  8. (intransitive) To remain faithful to one’s partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence.
    • 1957, Dagny Taggart; 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
Conjugation
Conjugation of wait
infinitive (to) wait
present tense past tense
1st-person singular wait waited
2nd-person singular wait, waitest† waited, waitedst†
3rd-person singular waits, waiteth† waited
plural wait
subjunctive wait waited
imperative wait —
participles waiting waited

† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from wait (verb)
Translations

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.
  3. (computing) Ellipsis of 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:
      […] 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.]
Derived terms
Translations

Interjection

wait

  1. (informal) Tells the other speaker to stop talking, typing etc. for a moment, often to allow clarification.
    Synonyms: hold on, wait a minute, just a minute
    - And so I went upstairs—
    - Wait. Your house has two floors?

Etymology 2

Calque of Japanese 待ち.

Noun

wait (plural waits)

  1. (Japanese mahjong) The last tile a player requires to complete a winning hand

Anagrams

Elfdalian

Etymology

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

Adjective

wait

  1. white

See also

Colors in Elfdalian · ferg (layout · text)
     wait      grå      swart
             roð              guolroð; brun              guol
                          gryön             
                                       blå
                          lila              råsa

Gothic

Romanization

wait

  1. romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍄

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱweyt-
Proto-Germanic *hwītaz
Proto-West Germanic *hwīt
Old English hwīt
Middle English whit
English white
Jamaican Creole wait

    Inherited from English white.

    Noun

    wait (plural wait dem, quantified wait)

    1. white

    Adjective

    wait

    1. white

    Further reading

    • “A Learner’s Grammar of Jamaican”, in Open Grammar Project‎[1], 2015, Glossary‎[2]

    Tok Pisin

    Etymology

    From English white. Cognate with Bislama and Pijin waet.

    Adjective

    wait

    1. white
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