different between wait vs wite

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 (Now generally superseded by “wait for”.)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

• enPR: w?t, IPA^(key): /wa?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• Homophone: wight; (in accents with the wine-whine merger) white

Etymology 1

From Middle English w?ten (“to accuse, reproach, punish, suspect”), Old English w?tan (“to look, behold, see, guard, keep, impute or ascribe to, accuse, reproach, blame”), from Proto-West Germanic *w?tan, from Proto-Germanic *w?tan?. Connected to Old English w?te, see below.

Alternative forms

• wyte

Verb

wite (third-person singular simple present wites, present participle witing, simple past and past participle wited)

1. (chiefly Scotland) To blame; regard as guilty, fault, accuse
2. To reproach, censure, mulct
3. To observe, keep, guard, preserve, protect

Etymology 2

From Middle English wite (“guilt, blameworthiness, blame, wrongdoing, misdeed, offense, punishment, retribution, fine, bote, customary rent”), from Old English w?te (“punishment, pain, torment”), from Proto-West Germanic *w?t?, from Proto-Germanic *w?tij?, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find, behold”).

Noun

wite (plural wites)

1. (obsolete outside Scotland) Blame, responsibility, guilt.
2. Punishment, penalty, fine, bote, mulct.

Etymology 3

From Middle English witen, from Old English w?tan (“to see, accuse, go, depart”), from Proto-West Germanic *w?tan, from Proto-Germanic *w?tan?, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find, behold”).

Verb

wite (third-person singular simple present wites, present participle witing, simple past and past participle wited)

1. (obsolete or poetic) To go, go away, depart, perish, vanish

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *w?t?, from Proto-Germanic *w?tij? (“punishment”). Cognate with Old Frisian w?te, Old Saxon w?ti, Dutch wijte, Old High German w?zi, Old Norse víti.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?wi?.te/

Noun

w?te n (nominative plural w?tu)

1. punishment, torment
2. penalty, fine

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Latin: w?ta

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v?i.t?/

Participle

wite

1. inflection of wity:
   1. neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular
   2. nonvirile nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Scots

Verb

wite

1. Alternative form of wyte

West Frisian

Verb

wite

1. Alternative form of witte

Inflection