wait

English

/weɪt/, /weɪt/

verb
Definitions
  • (transitive) To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)
  • (intransitive) To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
  • (intransitive) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
  • (transitive) To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.
  • (obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.
  • (obsolete) To defer or postpone (especially a meal).
  • (intransitive) To remain chaste while one's lover is unavailable.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English waiten derived from waiter derived from Frankish *wahtwēn, *wahtōn, *wahta, *wahtu (watch, guard, guard duty, watchtower) derived from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (watch, guard, vigil, earth, mud) derived from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (be strong, awake, lively, be fresh, cheerful, strong, be awake, be cheerful).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*weǵ-

Gloss

be strong, awake, lively, be fresh, cheerful, strong, be awake, be cheerful

Concept
Semantic Field

The body

Ontological Category

Property

Kanji

強

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms