Definition of "wait" in English

verb

1. (intransitive) To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.

   • Wait here until your car arrives.
   • I’m still waiting for you to pay me back the money I lent you..

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

   • She used to wait in this joint.

3. (transitive, now rare) 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 (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)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. (transitive, obsolete) To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.

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

6. (obsolete, colloquial) To defer or postpone (especially a meal).

7. (obsolete, except in phrases) To watch with malicious intent; to lie in wait

8. (intransitive) To remain faithful to one’s partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence.

noun

1. A delay.

   • I had a very long wait at the airport security check.

2. An ambush.

   • They lay in wait for the patrol.

3. (computing) Ellipsis of wait state.

4. (obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.

5. (in the plural, obsolete, UK) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.

6. (in the plural, UK) Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. [formerly waites, wayghtes.]

   • 1819-1820, Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon The sound of the waits, rude as may be their minstrelsy, breaks upon the mild watches of a winter night with the effect of perfect harmony.

interjection

1. (informal) Tells the other speaker to stop talking, typing etc. for a moment, often to allow clarification.

   • - And so I went upstairs— - Wait. Your house has two floors?