different between wait vs leave

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) waight

Etymology

From Middle English waiten, wayten, from Old Northern French waiter, waitier (compare French guetter from Old French gaitier, guaitier), from Frankish *waht?n, *wahtijan (“to watch, guard”), derivative of Frankish *wahta (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtw? (“guard, watch”), from Proto-Indo-European *we?- (“to be fresh, cheerful, awake”). Cognate with Old High German waht?n (“to watch, guard”), German Low German wachten (“to wait”), Dutch wachten (“to wait, expect”), French guetter (“to watch out for”), Saterland Frisian wachtje (“to wait”), West Frisian wachtsje (“to wait”), North Frisian wachtjen (“to stand, stay put”). More at watch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /we?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /we?t/, [we???t]
• Rhymes: -e?t
• Homophone: weight

Verb

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

1. (transitive, now rare) To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)

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

   • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, page 30:

     The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.

2. (intransitive) To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
   • Haste, my dear father; 'tis no time to wait.

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

4. (transitive, obsolete) 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.

   • 1714, Nicholas Rowe, The Tragedy of Jane Shore

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

5. (obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.
6. (obsolete, colloquial) To defer or postpone (especially a meal).

   to wait dinner

7. (intransitive) To remain faithful to one’s partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence.
   • 1957,Dagny Taggart and Francisco d'Anconia, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

     She did not question him. Before leaving, she asked only, "When will I see you again?" He answered, "I don't know. Don't wait for me, Dagny. Next time we meet, you will not want to see me."

   • 1974, The Bee Gees, Night Fever

     I will wait / Even if it takes forever / I will wait / Even if it takes a lifetime

Usage notes

• In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (delay until): await, wait for; See also Thesaurus:wait for
• (delay until some event): hold one's breath; See also Thesaurus:wait
• (serve customers): wait on, wait upon, serve
• (attend with ceremony or respect): bestand, serve, tend; See also Thesaurus:serve
• (attend as a consequence): attend, escort, go with
• (defer or postpone): defer, postpone; See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (remain celibate):

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

wait (plural waits)

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. (obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.
4. (in the plural, obsolete, Britain) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

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

   • Hark! are the waits abroad?

   • 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.

Translations

Related terms

• wake
• watch

Anagrams

• WTAI

Elfdalian

Etymology

From Old Norse hvítr, from Proto-Germanic *hw?taz. Cognate with Swedish vit.

Adjective

wait

1. white

Gothic

Romanization

wait

1. Romanization of ????????????????

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English white.

Adjective

wait

1. white

Westrobothnian

Alternative forms

• weit

Etymology

From Old Norse hveiti.

Noun

wait n (definite singular waite)

1. wheat (Triticum)
2. wheat bread

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /li?v/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /liv/
• Rhymes: -i?v

Etymology 1

From Middle English leven, from Old English l?fan (“to leave”), from Proto-Germanic *laibijan? (“to let stay, leave”), causative of *l?ban? (“to stay, remain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick; fat”). Cognate with Old Frisian l?va (“to leave”), Old Saxon l?vian, Old High German leiban (“to leave”), Old Norse leifa (“to leave over”) (whence Icelandic leifa (“to leave food uneaten”)), lifna (“to be left”) (whence Danish levne). More at lave, belive.

Verb

leave (third-person singular simple present leaves, present participle leaving, simple past and past participle left)

1. To have a consequence or remnant.
   1. (transitive) To cause or allow (something) to remain as available; to refrain from taking (something) away; to stop short of consuming or otherwise depleting (something) entirely.
   2. (transitive or intransitive, copulative) To cause, to result in.
   3. (transitive) To put; to place; to deposit; to deliver, with a sense of withdrawing oneself.

      • Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way.

      • The foot / That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks.

2. To depart; to separate from.
   1. To let be or do without interference.

   2. (transitive) To depart from; to end one's connection or affiliation with.
   3. (transitive) To end one's membership in (a group); to terminate one's affiliation with (an organization); to stop participating in (a project).
      • 2018, The Independent, "Brexit: Theresa May 'not bluffing' in threat to leave EU without a deal, Tory minister Liam Fox says"

        If we were to leave, the economic impact on a number of European countries would be severe.

   4. (intransitive) To depart; to go away from a certain place or state.

3. To transfer something.
   1. (transitive) To transfer possession of after death.

   2. (transitive) To give (something) to someone; to deliver (something) to a repository; to deposit.

   3. (transitive) To transfer responsibility or attention of (something) (to someone); to stop being concerned with.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To remain (behind); to stay.
   • Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

5. (transitive, archaic) To stop, desist from; to "leave off" (+ noun / gerund).
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke V:

     When he had leeft speakynge, he sayde vnto Simon: Cary vs into the depe, and lett slippe thy nette to make a draught.

   • 1716 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Basset-Table. An Eclogue.[1]

     Now leave Complaining, and begin your Tea.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to end one's connection with): depart, forget, leave behind

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Formed in English by conversion (anthimeria) of the transitive verb leave (“cause or allow to remain available”). Attested since the 19th century, with earliest references to billiards.

Noun

leave (plural leaves)

1. (cricket) The action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball.
2. (billiards) The arrangement of balls in play that remains after a shot is made (which determines whether the next shooter — who may be either the same player, or an opponent — has good options, or only poor ones).

Etymology 3

From Middle English leve, from Old English l?af (“permission, privilege”), from Proto-Germanic *laub?, *laub? (“permission, privilege, favour, worth”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewb?- (“to love, hold dear”). Cognate with obsolete German Laube (“permission”), Swedish lov (“permission”), Icelandic leyfi (“permission”). Related to Dutch verlof, German Erlaubnis. See also love.

Noun

leave (countable and uncountable, plural leaves)

1. Permission to be absent; time away from one's work.

3. (dated or law) Permission.
4. (dated) Farewell, departure.

Synonyms

• (permission to be absent): annual leave, holiday; see also Thesaurus:vacation
• (permission): authorisation, consent

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English leven, from Old English l?efan (“to allow, grant, concede; believe, trust, confide in”), from Proto-Germanic *laubijan? (“to allow, praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewb?- (“to love, hold dear”). Cognate with German lauben (“to allow, believe”), Icelandic leyfa (“to allow”).

Verb

leave (third-person singular simple present leaves, present participle leaving, simple past and past participle leaved or left)

1. (transitive) To give leave to; allow; permit; let; grant.

Etymology 5

From Middle English leven, from lef (“leaf”). More at leaf.

Verb

leave (third-person singular simple present leaves, present participle leaving, simple past and past participle leaved)

1. (intransitive, rare) To produce leaves or foliage.
   • 1868, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, 2nd edition:

     Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say:

     Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?

Synonyms

• leaf (verb)

Translations

Etymology 6

From French lever. Compare levy. Compare also Middle English leve, a variant of levy that may have been monosyllabic.

Verb

leave (third-person singular simple present leaves, present participle leaving, simple past and past participle leaved)

1. (obsolete) To raise; to levy.

References

• leave in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• leave in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Veale, veale