lie in wait

Verb

lie in wait (third-person singular simple present lies in wait, present participle lying in wait, simple past lay in wait, past participle lain in wait)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be hiding, waiting to ambush or attack someone, or simply to accost them unexpectedly.
   • Nothing impressed me, so much, in my visits here (which were pretty numerous) as the uncommonly hard and cruel character of the audience, who resent the slightest defect, take nothing good-humouredly, seem to be always lying in wait for an opportunity to hiss, and spare the actresses as little as...1846, Charles Dickens, “Genoa and Its Neighbourhood”, in Pictures from Italy, London: […] Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, page 67

   Synonyms:

   waylay