wait
pronunciation
How to pronounce wait in British English:
UK [weɪt]
How to pronounce wait in American English:
US [weɪt]
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- Noun:
- time during which some action is awaited
- the act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)
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- Verb:
- stay in one place and anticipate or expect something
- wait before acting
- look forward to the probable occurrence of
- serve as a waiter in a restaurant
Word Origin
- wait
- wait: [12] Wait originally meant ‘look, spy’. But the notion of remaining in hiding, keeping a watch on one’s enemies’ movements led via the sense ‘remain, stay (in expectation)’ to, in the 17th century, ‘defer action’. The word was borrowed from Old Northern French waitier, which was itself a loanword from prehistoric Germanic *wakhtan (ultimate source also of English waft). This in turn was formed from the base *wak-, which also produced English wake, watch, etc. The sense ‘serve food at table’ emerged in the 16th century from an earlier ‘attend on’.=> waft, wake, watch
- wait (v.)
- c. 1200, "to watch with hostile intent, lie in wait for, plot against," from Anglo-French and Old North French waitier "to watch" (Old French gaitier "defend, watch out, be on one's guard; lie in wait for;" Modern French guetter), from Frankish *wahton or another Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *waht- (cognates: Dutch wacht "a watching," Old High German wahten, German wachten "to watch, to guard;" Old High German wahhon "to watch, be awake," Old English wacian "to be awake;" see wake (v.)). General sense of "remain in some place" is from late 14c.; that of "to see to it that something occurs" is late 14c. Meaning "to stand by in attendance on" is late 14c.; specific sense of "serve as an attendant at a table" is from 1560s. Related: Waited; waiting. To wait (something) out "endure a period of waiting" is recorded from 1849. Waiting room is attested from 1680s. Waiting list is recorded from 1841; the verb wait-list "to put (someone) on a waiting list" is recorded from 1960. Waiting game is recorded from 1835, originally in horse-racing. When speed, not stoutness, is the best of a horse, quite a contrary system is practised. With such a horse, the jockey plays a waiting game; that is, he carefully nurses him through the race, so as not to distress him by overpacing him; as the finish approaches, he creeps up to his horses by degrees, but does not quit them to go in front till he sees that the pace has made them "safe," -- when he lets loose and wins. [James Christie Whyte, "History of the British Turf," London, 1840]
- wait (n.)
- early 13c., "a watcher, onlooker," from Old North French wait (Old French gait "look-out, watch, sentry"), from Old North French waitier (Old French gaitier; see wait (v.)). Compare Old High German wahta, German Wacht "a watchman." From late 14c. as "an ambush, a trap" (as in lie in wait). From 1855 as "time occupied in waiting;" 1873 as "an act of waiting." From the sense "civic employee responsible for signaling the hour or an alarm by sounding on a trumpet, etc." comes the old sense "town musicians" (mid-15c.).
Example
- 1. He orders her to wait outside .
- 2. The temptation to wait seems obvious .
- 3. Wait a moment . I 'll find you one .
- 4. She 'll walk slowly . Wait in the cold .
- 5. I wait that you like it .