wait

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To stay where you are or delay doing something until something happens or someone arrives.

   Wait here until your car arrives.

2. 2
   noun

   A period of time spent waiting.

   There was a long wait for the bus.

3. 3
   verb

   To serve food and drink to customers in a restaurant.

   She waits on tables at a small café.

Common collocations

• long wait Adjective + noun
• short wait Adjective + noun
• wait one's turn Verb + noun
• anxious wait Adjective + noun
• endure a wait Verb + noun
• agonizing wait Adjective + noun

From Middle English waiten, from Anglo-Norman waiter, waitier (compare French guetter from Old French gaitier, guaitier), from Frankish *wahtwēn (“to watch, guard”), derivative of Frankish *wahtu (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Cognate with Old High German wahtēn (“to watch, guard”), German Low German wachten (“to wait”), Dutch wachten (“to wait, expect”), French guetter (“to watch out for”), Saterland Frisian wachtje (“to wait”), West Frisian wachtsje (“to wait”), North Frisian wachtjen (“to stand…

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