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wait

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.

3. To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect. 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.

1. To watch; to observe; to take notice. 'But [unless] ye wait well and be privy, I wot right well, I am but dead, quoth she. (Chaucer)

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) To wait on or upon. To attend, as a servant; to perform services for; as, to wait on a gentleman; to wait on the table. Authority and reason on her wait. . I must wait on myself, must I? . To attend; to go to see; to visit on business or for ceremony. To follow, as a consequence; to await. That ruin that waits on such a supine temper. . To look watchfully at; to follow with the eye; to watch. It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye. . To attend to; to perform. Aaron and his sons . . . Shallwait on their priest's office. .

(Science: veterinary) To fly above its master, waiting till game is sprung; said of a hawk.

Origin: OE. Waiten, OF. Waitier, gaitier, to watch, attend, F. Guetter to watch, to wait for, fr. OHG. Wahta a guard, watch, G. Wacht, from OHG. Wahhen to watch, be awake. 134. See Wake.