Wait

Verb

 * 1)  To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)
 * 2) * 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 30:
 * The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.
 * 1)  To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
 * Wait here until your car arrives.
 * 1)  To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
 * She used to wait down at the Dew Drop Inn.

Synonyms

 * hold one's breath

Derived terms

 * can't wait
 * wait staff
 * wait state
 * wait for
 * wait on
 * wait tables


 * waiter
 * waiting room
 * waitperson
 * waitress
 * waitron

Noun

 * 1) A delay.
 * I had a very long wait at the airport security check.
 * 1) An ambush.
 * They laid in wait for the patrol.
 * 1)  One who watches; a watchman.
 * 2) NaN UKs Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.
 * 3) NaN UKs Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. [formerly waites, wayghtes.]
 * 4) * Beaumont and Fletcher
 * Hark! are the waits abroad?
 * 1) * Washington Irving
 * 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.

Adverbs for Wait
breathlessly; passively; sadly; reverently; anxiously; exultantly; mutely; devotedly; placidly; instinctively; calmly; apprehensively; boldly; hungrily; morbidly; disastrously; indecisively; tensely.

Thesaurus
abide, administer to, afterthought, attend, attend on, await, ballad singer, balladeer, bard, be patient, bear with composure, bide, bide the issue, bind, block, blockage, bureaucratic delay, care for, carry on, carry through, chore, dally, dance attendance upon, dawdle, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, detention, dillydally, do for, do service to, double take, dragging, drudge, fili, folk singer, folk-rock singer, forbear, gleeman, halt, hang about, hang around, hang-up, help, hindrance, hold everything, hold on, hold your horses, holdup, interim, jam, jongleur, lackey, lag, lagging, linger, logjam, loiter, look after, maid, mark time, minister to, minnesinger, minstrel, moratorium, obstruction, pander to, paperasserie, pause, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, remain, reprieve, respite, retardance, retardation, rhapsode, rhapsodist, scop, serenader, serve, sit tight, sit up, sit up for, slow-up, slowdown, slowness, stay, stay of execution, stay up, stay up for, stick, stick around, stop, stoppage, street singer, strolling minstrel, suspension, sweat, sweat it out, sweat out, take care of, take time, tarry, tend, tie-up, time lag, troubadour, trovatore, upon, valet, wait a minute, wait and see, wait for, wait it out, wait on, wait up for, wandering minstrel, watch, watch and wait, work for

Etymology
From waitier:, a variant of  gaiter: (modern guetter "watch for"), of  origin.

Verb

 * American Sign Language:
 * Amharic:
 * Arabic:
 * Egyptian Arabic:
 * Armenian:
 * Belarusian: чакаць
 * Bosnian:
 * Bulgarian:
 * Catalan: esperar, esperar-se
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, 等待, 待, 候
 * Croatian:
 * Czech:
 * Danish:
 * Dutch: ,
 * Ewe: lala
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Hebrew: חיכה, המתין
 * Hindi:
 * Hungarian: vár
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido: vartar
 * Irish:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:
 * Korean:, 대기하다


 * Kurdish:
 * Lao:
 * Latin: ,
 * Latvian: gaidīt
 * Lithuanian:
 * Macedonian: чекај
 * Mongolian: хүлээлт
 * Occitan: esperar
 * Old English: ,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:,  , ожидать
 * Serbian:
 * Cyrillic: чекати
 * Roman: čekati
 * Slovak: čakať
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish:, bida
 * Thai:
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian:
 * Urdu:
 * Vietnamese:
 * Volapük: stebedön
 * Walloon: ratinde, rawårder
 * Yiddish: וואַרטן


 * Armenian: սպասարկել
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:
 * French:, faire le service
 * German:


 * Greek: σερβίρω
 * Japanese: ウエイターをする, ウエイトレスをする
 * Korean: 시중들다, 서비스하다
 * Romanian: a servi masa
 * Volapük: bötön

Noun

 * Finnish:
 * French: attente
 * Japanese: 待ち


 * Latin: expectatio
 * Spanish:, retraso

Related terms

 * wake
 * watch

Anagrams

 * WTAI