waiting on

Verb

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

1. To provide a service to (someone); to act as a servant to (someone); to serve (someone) as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant.
   • Is someone waiting on you yet?

   Synonyms:

   attend to, aid, attend, await, bestand, bestead, dance attendance, do, do for, serve

2. (colloquial) To wait for (a person).
   • I'm waiting on you before we can leave.
3. (colloquial) To wait for (a thing, or an event to take place).
   • I'm waiting on the light to change.
4. To be in store for (someone).
   • the destruction that waits on Monarchs, who consider fidelity to them as the most degrading of all vices1796, Edmund Burke, “Letter I. On the Overtures of Peace.”, in Two Letters Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London...

   Synonyms:

   await

5. (archaic) To visit (someone) as a courtesy, on business or for ceremony.
   • In the Evening our Commander sent a Message to Mr. Jones, that if a Visit would not be troublesome he would wait on him.1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 13, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII, page 68

   Synonyms:

   attend, call on

6. (archaic) To occur as a consequence of (something), to result from (something).
   • that ruine which waits upon such a supine temper1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, chapter 3, in The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC, page 49

See all 10 meanings of wait on