What does wait mean?

Definitions for wait
weɪtwait

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word wait.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. delay, hold, time lag, postponement, waitnoun

    time during which some action is awaited

    "instant replay caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"

  2. wait, waitingverb

    the act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)

    "the wait was an ordeal for him"

  3. waitverb

    stay in one place and anticipate or expect something

    "I had to wait on line for an hour to get the tickets"

  4. wait, hold off, hold backverb

    wait before acting

    "the scientists held off announcing their results until they repeated the experiment"

  5. expect, look, await, waitverb

    look forward to the probable occurrence of

    "We were expecting a visit from our relatives"; "She is looking to a promotion"; "he is waiting to be drafted"

  6. wait, waitressverb

    serve as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant

    "I'm waiting on tables at Maxim's"

Wiktionary

  1. waitnoun

    A delay.

    I had a very long wait at the airport security check.

  2. waitnoun

    An ambush.

    They laid in wait for the patrol.

  3. waitnoun

    One who watches; a watchman.

  4. waitnoun

    Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.

  5. waitnoun

    Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. [formerly waites, wayghtes.]

  6. waitverb

    To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)

  7. waitverb

    To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.

    Wait here until your car arrives.

  8. waitverb

    To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.

    She used to wait down at the Dew Drop Inn.

  9. Etymology: From waiten, wayten, from waiter, waitier, from Old Low *, derivative of *, from wahtwō, from weǵ-. Cognate with wahten, wachten, guetter, wachtjen. More at watch.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Waitnoun

    Ambush; insidious and secret attempts.

    If he hurl at him by laying of wait, that he die; he that smote him shall be put to death. Num. xxxv. 20.

    Why sat’st thou like an enemy in wait? John Milton.

  2. To Waitverb

    Etymology: wachten, Dutch.

    Bid them prepare within;
    I am to blame to be thus waited for. William Shakespeare.

    Aw’d with these words, in camps they still abide,
    And wait with longing looks their promis’d guide. Dryden.

    Such courage did the antient heroes show,
    Who, when they might prevent, would wait the blow. Dry.

    He chose a thousand horse, the flow’r of all
    His warlike troops, to wait the funeral. Dryden.

    Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee,
    And everlasting anguish be thy portion. Nicholas Rowe.

    He is waited for of the sword. Job xv. 22.

  3. To Waitverb

    All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Job xiv. 14.

    The poultry stand
    Waiting upon her charitable hand. John Gay.

    Though Syrinx your Pan’s mistress were,
    Yet Syrinx well might wait on her. John Milton, Arcades.

    One morning waiting on him at Causham, smiling upon me, he said, he could tell me some news of myself. John Denham.

    Fortune and victory he did pursue,
    To bring them, as his slaves, to wait on you. Dryden.

    A parcel of soldiers robbed a farmer of his poultry, and then made him wait at table. Jonathan Swift.

    The dinner is on the table; my father desires your worship’s company. ——
    —— I will wait on him. William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor.

    How shall we know when to wait for, when to decline persecution. Robert South, Sermons.

    With Vulcan’s rage the rising winds conspire,
    And near our palace rolls the flood of fire:
    Haste, my dear father, ’tis no time to wait,
    And load my shoulders with a willing freight. Dryden.

    I know, if I am deprived of you, I die:
    But oh! I die, if I wait longer for you. Ambrose Philips.

    It is a point of cunning to wait upon him, with whom you speak, with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept. Francis Bacon.

    Such ambush waited to intercept thy way. John Milton.

    It will import those men who dwell careless, to enter into serious consultation how they may avert that ruin, which waits on such a supine temper. Decay of Piety.

Wikipedia

  1. Wait

    Wait is the debut single by American producer Chantel Jeffries. It was released for digital download on May 2, 2018 as the first single from her debut extended play Calculated Luck, by Universal Music Group label, 10:22 pm. The track features guest vocals from American rappers Offset and Vory.

ChatGPT

  1. Wait

    Wait is the act of staying in a place or not moving in order to allow time to pass or for something to happen. It often involves patience and can be accompanied by anticipation or expectation.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Waitverb

    to watch; to observe; to take notice

  2. Waitverb

    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

  3. Waitverb

    to stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of; to await; as, to wait orders

  4. Waitverb

    to attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany; to await

  5. Waitverb

    to attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect

  6. Waitverb

    to cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; -- said of a meal; as, to wait dinner

  7. Waitverb

    the act of waiting; a delay; a halt

  8. Waitverb

    ambush

  9. Waitverb

    one who watches; a watchman

  10. Waitverb

    hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used in the singular

  11. Waitverb

    musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen

  12. Etymology: [OF. waite, guaite, gaite, F. guet watch, watching, guard, from OHG. wahta. See Wait, v. i.]

Wikidata

  1. wait

    In computing, wait is a command which pauses until execution of a background process has ended.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Wait

    wāt, v.i. to stay in expectation (with for): to remain: to attend (with on): to follow: to lie in ambush.—v.t. to stay for: to await: (coll.) to defer: (obs.) to accompany.—n. ambush, now used only in such phrases as 'to lie in wait,' 'to lay wait:' the: act of waiting or expecting: delay: (pl.) itinerant musicians, originally watchmen, who welcome-in Christmas.—ns. Wait′er, one who waits: an attending servant: a salver or tray: a custom-house officer: (obs.) a watchman; Wait′erage, service; Wait′ering, the employment of a waiter; Wait′ing, act of waiting: attendance.—adv. Wait′ingly.—ns. Wait′ing-maid, -wom′an, a female attendant; Wait′ing-room, a room for the convenience of persons waiting; Wait′ing-vass′al (Shak.), an attendant; Wait′ress, a female waiter.—Wait attendance (Shak.), to remain in attendance; Wait upon, on, to call upon, visit: to accompany, to be in the service of: (B.) to look toward, to attend to, do the bidding of.—Lie in wait, to be in hiding ready for attack or surprise.—Lords, or Grooms, in waiting, certain officers in the Lord Chamberlain's department of the royal household; Minority waiter, a waiter out of employment, as a political minority is out of office. [O. Fr. waiter (Fr. guetter), to watch, attend—waite, a sentinel—Old High Ger. wahta (Ger. wacht), a watchman; cog. with A.S. wacan, to watch.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. wait

    Ambush. To lay wait, to lie in ambush; to prepare an ambuscade. To lie in wait, to lie in ambush; to be secreted in order to fall by surprise on an enemy.

Suggested Resources

  1. WAIT

    What does WAIT stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the WAIT acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. WAIT

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Wait is ranked #10145 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Wait surname appeared 3,179 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Wait.

    94.3% or 2,998 total occurrences were White.
    1.9% or 62 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.5% or 49 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    1% or 32 total occurrences were Black.
    0.7% or 25 total occurrences were Asian.
    0.4% or 13 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'wait' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1497

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'wait' in Written Corpus Frequency: #524

  3. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'wait' in Verbs Frequency: #107

How to pronounce wait?

How to say wait in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of wait in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of wait in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of wait in a Sentence

  1. Chun Lee-kyung:

    It's a challenge because there is only one rink in Singapore, theoretically it shouldn't be a challenge as it's an indoor winter sport which means we aren't really limited by the outside weather, we can create as many ice rinks in Singapore technically, but of course we need to wait for more things (events and skaters) to come up so we can have skating in more parts of Singapore.

  2. The IG:

    We found that The Veterans Crisis Line leadership had not established expectations or targets for queued call times or thresholds for taking action on queue times. A veteran could be queued for 30 minutes, for example, and that wait time might not be reflected in hold time data ; however, the result of the delay is the same, whether the veteran was in a queue or on hold.

  3. Bernie Sanders:

    I guess we will have to wait and see.

  4. Sipho P Nkosi:

    Wait where you are until it is clear again.

  5. Basheer Jones:

    We, as elected officials, can't wait. We have to adhere to a moral code, whatever it is, we have to do the best we can. We have to hold ourselves and the community accountable.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

wait#1#2071#10000

Translations for wait

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"wait." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/wait>.

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