Wait /(?)/

imp. & p. p. Waited; p. pr. & vb. n. Waiting

1. To watch; to observe; to take notice. [Obs.]

   “But [unless] ye wait well and be privy, I wot right well, I am but dead,” quoth she.

2. To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary till the arrival of some person or event; to rest in patience; to stay; not to depart.

   All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

   They also serve who only stand and wait.

   Haste, my dear father; 't is no time to wait.

1. To stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of; to await; as, to wait orders.

   Awed with these words, in camps they still abide, And wait with longing looks their promised guide.

2. To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany; to await. [Obs.]
3. To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect. [Obs.]

   He chose a thousand horse, the flower of all His warlike troops, to wait the funeral.

   Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, And everlasting anguish be thy portion.

4. To cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; -- said of a meal; as, to wait dinner. [Colloq.]

1. The act of waiting; a delay; a halt.

   There is a wait of three hours at the border Mexican town of El Paso.

2. Ambush.
3. One who watches; a watchman. [Obs.]
4. Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used in the singular. [Obs.]
5. Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen.

   Hark! are the waits abroad?

   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.