waiting

Verb

wait (third-person singular simple present waits, present participle waiting, simple past and past participle waited)

1. (intransitive) To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
   • Wait here until your car arrives.

   Synonyms:

   hold one's breath

2. (US, intransitive, stative) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
   • She used to wait in this joint.

   Synonyms:

   wait on, wait upon, serve

3. (archaic, transitive) To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)
   • to wait one’s turn
4. (obsolete, transitive) 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.1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   bestand

5. (obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.

   Synonyms:

   attend, escort, go with

6. (colloquial, obsolete) To defer or postpone (especially a meal).
   • Montague Thorold, who impatiently watched her wherever she went, came to tell her that his mother waited breakfast for her.1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 185

   Synonyms:

   defer

See all 15 meanings of wait