different between watch vs await

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w?t??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /w?t??/, /w?t??/
• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /w?t??/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Etymology 1

As a noun, from Middle English wacche, from Old English wæ??e. See below for verb form.

Noun

watch (plural watches)

1. A portable or wearable timepiece.

2. The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
   • 1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses

     All the long night their mournful watch they keep.

3. A particular time period when guarding is kept.
4. A person or group of people who guard.
5. The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
6. (nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
7. (nautical) A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (FM 55–501).
8. The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
   • 2016, Andrew Bullock, David Brent REVIEW: Life on the Road goes from painfully funny to just plain painful. Ouch (in Sunday Express, 11 August)

     The first third of the film is laugh after laugh; […] But half an hour in and this movie gets unnervingly dark and is an uncomfortable watch at times.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wacchen, from Old English wæ??an, from Proto-West Germanic *wakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *wakjan?.

Verb

watch (third-person singular simple present watches, present participle watching, simple past and past participle watched)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
2. (transitive) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.

3. (transitive) To mind, attend, or guard.
4. (transitive) To be wary or cautious of.

5. (transitive) To attend to dangers to or regarding.

6. (intransitive) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
7. (intransitive) To be vigilant or on one's guard.

8. (intransitive) To act as a lookout.
9. (nautical, of a buoy) To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
10. (obsolete, intransitive) To be awake.
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:

      So on the morne Sir Trystram, Sir Gareth and Sir Dynadan arose early and went unto Sir Palomydes chambir, and there they founde hym faste aslepe, for he had all nyght wacched […]

11. (transitive, obsolete) To be on the lookout for; to wait for expectantly.
    • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt 2008, p. 80:

      [S]he had reason to dread that her husband had formed a very criminal project of being revenged on Zeluco, and watched an opportunity of putting it in execution.

Usage notes

• When used transitively to mean look at something, there is an implication that the direct object is something which is capable of changing.

Antonyms

• ignore

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• wait
• wake

English

Etymology

From Middle English awaiten, from Old Northern French awaitier (“to lie in wait for, watch, observe”), originally especially with a hostile sense; itself from a- (“to”) + waitier (“to watch”). More at English wait.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??w??t/
• Rhymes: -e?t

Verb

await (third-person singular simple present awaits, present participle awaiting, simple past and past participle awaited)

1. (transitive, formal) To wait for.

2. (transitive) To expect.
3. (transitive) To be in store for; to be ready or in waiting for.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To serve or attend; to wait on, wait upon.
5. (intransitive) To watch, observe.
6. (intransitive) To wait; to stay in waiting.

Usage notes

• As await means to wait for, it is not followed by "for". *I am awaiting for your reply is therefore incorrect.

Synonyms

• (wait for): wait for, anticipate, listen (of a sound); See also Thesaurus:wait for
• (serve or attend): attend to, service; See also Thesaurus:serve

Translations

Noun

await (plural awaits)

1. (obsolete) A waiting for; ambush.
2. (obsolete) Watching, watchfulness, suspicious observation.

   • Also, madame, syte you well that there be many men spekith of oure love in this courte, and have you and me gretely in awayte, as thes Sir Aggravayne and Sir Mordred.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

     For all that night, the whyles the Prince did rest […] He watcht in close awayt with weapons prest […].

References

Anagrams

• Iwata