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. To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany; to await. [Obs.]
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. To cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; — said of a meal; as, to wait dinner. [Colloq.]
Wait
(Wait), n. [OF. waite, guaite, gaite, F. guet watch, watching, guard, from OHG. wahta. See
Wait, v. i.]
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. Ambush. "An enemy in wait." Milton.
3. One who watches; a watchman. [Obs.]
4. pl. Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used in the singular. [Obs.] Halliwell.
5. pl. Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical
watchmen. [Written formerly wayghtes.]
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. To lay wait, to prepare an ambuscade. — To lie in wait. See under 4th Lie.
Waiter
(Wait"er) n.
1. One who, or that which, waits; an attendant; a servant in attendance, esp. at table.
The waiters stand in ranks; the yeomen cry,
"Make room," as if a duke were passing by.
Swift. 2. A vessel or tray on which something is carried, as dishes, etc.; a salver.
Coast waiter. See under Coast, n.
Waiting
(Wait"ing), a. & n. from Wait, v.
In waiting, in attendance; as, lords in waiting. [Eng.] — Waiting gentlewoman, a woman who waits
upon a person of rank. — Waiting maid, Waiting woman, a maid or woman who waits upon another
as a personal servant.
Waitingly
(Wait"ing*ly), adv. By waiting.
Waitress
(Wait"ress) n. A female waiter or attendant; a waiting maid or waiting woman.
Waive
(Waive) n. [See Waive, v. t. ]
