different between wait vs wake
wait
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)
- (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 (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)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.
- (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.
- (intransitive, US) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.
- (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.
- (obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.
- (obsolete, colloquial) To defer or postpone (especially a meal).
- to wait dinner
- (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
- 1957,Dagny Taggart and Francisco d'Anconia, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
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)
- A delay.
- I had a very long wait at the airport security check.
- An ambush.
- They lay in wait for the patrol.
- (obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.
- (in the plural, obsolete, Britain) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)
- (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
- white
Gothic
Romanization
wait
- Romanization of ????????????????
Tok Pisin
Etymology
From English white.
Adjective
wait
- white
Westrobothnian
Alternative forms
- weit
Etymology
From Old Norse hveiti.
Noun
wait n (definite singular waite)
- wheat (Triticum)
- wheat bread
wait From the web:
- what waits in the woods
- what waits in the water
- what waits below
- what wait a minute
- what waits in the water movie
- what waits in the woods movie
- what waits for no man
- what waits in the woods summary
wake
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /we?k/
- Homophone: Wake
- Rhymes: -e?k
Etymology 1
A merger of two verbs of similar form and meaning:
- Middle English waken, Old English wacan, from Proto-Germanic *wakan?.
- Middle English wakien, Old English wacian, from Proto-West Germanic *wak?n, from Proto-Germanic *wak?n?.
Verb
wake (third-person singular simple present wakes, present participle waking, simple past woke or waked, past participle woken or waked)
- (intransitive) (often followed by up) To stop sleeping.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
- How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
- (transitive) (often followed by up) To make somebody stop sleeping; to rouse from sleep.
- (transitive, figuratively) To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite.
- 1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People
- Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his island realm.
- 1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People
- (intransitive, figuratively) To be excited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.
- To lay out a body prior to burial in order to allow family and friends to pay their last respects.
- Section 14(1)(a), Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137, R. Ed. 2003)
- Where any person has died whilst being, or suspected of being, a case or carrier or contact of an infectious disease, the Director may by order prohibit the conduct of a wake over the body of that person or impose such conditions as he thinks fit on the conduct of such wake...
- Section 14(1)(a), Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137, R. Ed. 2003)
- To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.
- To be or remain awake; not to sleep.
- , Book II, Chapter I
- I cannot think any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it.
- , Book II, Chapter I
- (obsolete) To be alert; to keep watch
- (obsolete) To sit up late for festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
Derived terms
- bewake
- wake up and smell the ashes
- wake up and smell the coffee
- wake up and smell the roses
Related terms
- wacken
Translations
Noun
wake (plural wakes)
- (obsolete, poetic) The act of waking, or state of being awake.
- 1677, John Dryden, All for Love
- Singing her flatteries to my morning wake.
- 1677, John Dryden, All for Love
- The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil.
- The warlike wakes continued all the night, / And funeral games played at new returning light.
Derived terms
- wakeful
- wakeless
- wakesome
Etymology 2
From Old English wacu, from Proto-Germanic *wak?.
Noun
wake (plural wakes)
- A period after a person's death before or after the body is buried, cremated, etc.; in some cultures accompanied by a party and/or collectively sorting through the deceased's personal effects.
- (historical, Church of England) A yearly parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the dedication of a church. Originally, prayers were said on the evening preceding, and hymns were sung during the night, in the church; subsequently, these vigils were discontinued, and the day itself, often with succeeding days, was occupied in rural pastimes and exercises, attended by eating and drinking.
- 1523–1525, Jean Froissart, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
- Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England.
- And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer.
- 1523–1525, Jean Froissart, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
- A number of vultures assembled together.
Synonyms
- death watch
Translations
See also
- arval, arvel
- shiva, shivah
Etymology 3
Probably from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch wake, from or akin to Old Norse v?k (“a hole in the ice”) ( > Danish våge, Icelandic vök), from Proto-Germanic *wakw? (“wetness”), from Proto-Indo-European *weg?- (“moist, wet”).
Noun
wake (plural wakes)
- The path left behind a ship on the surface of the water.
- The turbulent air left behind a flying aircraft.
- (figuratively) The area behind something, typically a rapidly moving object.
- 1826, Thomas De Quincey, Lessing (published in Blackwood's Magazine)
- This effect followed immediately in the wake of his earliest exertions.
- 1857-1859, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians
- Several humbler persons […] formed quite a procession in the dusty wake of his chariot wheels.
- 1826, Thomas De Quincey, Lessing (published in Blackwood's Magazine)
Translations
Derived terms
- wakeboarding
- wakeskater
- wakeskating
- wake turbulence
- wake vortex
See also
- in the wake of
- wakes
Related terms
- wait
- watch
Anagrams
- weak, weka
Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch *waka, from Proto-Germanic *wak?.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??a?.k?/
Noun
wake f (plural waken)
- A wake (a gathering to remember a dead person).
Verb
wake
- (archaic) singular present subjunctive of waken
Japanese
Romanization
wake
- R?maji transcription of ??
Middle English
Adjective
wake
- Alternative form of woke
Swahili
Noun
wake
- plural of mke
Adjective
wake
- M class inflected form of -ake.
- U class inflected form of -ake.
- Wa class inflected form of -ake.
Torres Strait Creole
Etymology
From Meriam wakey.
Noun
wake
- (eastern dialect) thigh, upper leg
Synonyms
- dokap (western dialect)
wake From the web:
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- what wakes you up better than coffee
- what wakes the dragon in beowulf
- what makes up the computer and remind it what to do
- what makes up the pituitary gland
- what wakes you up when you're tired
- what wakes up the brain cells
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