# wait

Pronunciation: say "WAYT" /weɪt/

## Verb

1. To stay where you are or delay acting until a particular time comes, something happens, or someone arrives; to await something, as in 'wait your turn' or 'wait for the bus'.
   - Simple: To stay or not act until a certain time comes or something happens.
   - _We waited for the bus in the rain for almost twenty minutes._
   - _Please wait your turn while the clerk helps the customer ahead of you._
4. To serve customers their food and drinks in a restaurant or other eating establishment. *(US)*
   - Simple: To serve people their food and drinks at a restaurant.
   - _He waited on tables throughout his years in graduate school._
   - _Students often wait on tables to earn extra money during the summer._
5. To stay faithful to a partner or fiancé throughout a long period of absence.
   - Simple: To stay loyal to your partner while they are away for a long time.
   - _He asked whether she would wait during his long deployment._
   - _When he shipped out for a three-year tour, she promised to wait for him, and she never dated anyone else._
8. To defer or postpone something, especially a meal. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To put off something until later, especially a meal.
   - _Call your mom and tell her not to wait dinner for us, since traffic on the highway is terrible._
   - _She waited breakfast for her son, who had overslept again._

## Noun

2. A period of delay before something happens or continues.
   - Simple: A period of time you spend before something happens.
   - _The wait for tickets stretched well past two hours._
   - _After a brief wait, the gates finally opened._
9. Short for wait state: a delay of one or more clock cycles that a processor adds while waiting for slower memory or devices to respond. — Ellipsis of wait state.
   - Simple: Short for wait state: a short delay while a computer waits for slower parts.
   - _Each wait keeps the CPU aligned with slower memory timing._
   - _The controller inserts a wait whenever the data bus is busy._
10. An ambush, the act of hiding and watching for someone in order to attack them by surprise.
   - Simple: The act of hiding and watching secretly, ready to attack or surprise someone.
   - _Photographers were lying in wait for the singer outside her hotel._
   - _Highwaymen lay in wait along the dark stretch of forest road._
11. A member of a band of musicians who sing or play through the night or early morning, especially at Christmas; a serenader or musical watchman. *(UK)*
   - Simple: One of a group of musicians who play music outdoors at night, especially at Christmas.
   - _On Christmas Eve the waits went from house to house playing carols, and people gave them coins and hot drinks._
   - _On frosty nights the waits moved from house to house, playing for coins._

## Interjection

3. Used to ask another person to pause briefly, often so that something can be made clear. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used to ask someone to stop for a moment so you can think or check something.
   - _Wait, I think you misread the last line of the report._
   - _Wait, are you sure that's the right address?_

## Verb

6. To watch with harmful intent; to lie in wait for someone. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To watch someone secretly while planning to harm them.
7. To attend on or accompany someone, especially with ceremony or respect. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To serve and go with an important person, often with great respect.
12. To follow upon or accompany something as a consequence. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To come along with or follow as a result of something.

## Noun

13. A person who keeps watch; a watchman. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person whose job is to watch or guard, especially at night.
14. A type of oboe or hautboy played by town musicians. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: An old kind of oboe played by town musicians.

## Origin

Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- ("to be fresh, awake") led to Proto-Germanic *wahtwō and Frankish *wahtu ("guard, watch"), from which came the Frankish verb *wahtwēn ("to watch, guard"). Anglo-Norman took this as waiter, waitier (compare French guetter), and Middle English made it waiten. Dutch wachten ("to wait") and French guetter are related. Some senses merged with, or were shaped by, a second Middle English waiten ("to lie in wait for, catch") from Old Norse veita. The word largely took over from the native word that came from Old English bīdan.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/wait (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).