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Entry 11 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Wait

/wāt/ · IPA /weɪt/
01 v. i. To watch; to observe; to take notice.
imp. & p. p. Waited; p. pr. & vb. n. Waiting
  1. 1.
    To watch; to observe; to take notice.[Obs.]
    ““But [unless] ye wait well and be privy, I wot right well, I am but dead,” quoth she.” — Chaucer.
  2. 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.
Phrases & compounds
To wait on — To attend, as a servant; to perform services for; as, to wait on a gentleman; to wait on the table.
02 v. t. To stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of; to await; as, to wait orders.
  1. 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. 2.
    To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany; to await.[Obs.]
  3. 3.
    To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.[Obs.]
    “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. 4.
    To cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; -- said of a meal; as, to wait dinner.[Colloq.]
03 n. The act of waiting; a delay; a halt.
  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. 2.
    Ambush.
  3. 3.
    One who watches; a watchman.[Obs.]
  4. 4.
    Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used in the singular.[Obs.]
  5. 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.
Phrases & compounds
To lay wait — to prepare an ambuscade.
To lie in wait — See under 4th Lie.