Wait sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Wait sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1928, rev. 2024. Wait sb. Forms: 3–7 wayte, waite, (5 wayet, whayte), 4–7 wayt, 4, 7 weyte, (6 weytte, wette), 5–6 wate, (5 watte), 6 waytte (waitte, wayght, weyght, wyethe, whet), 7 waight, (weight), 4– wait. [Partly a. ONF. *wait, wet masc. (= OF. guait, gait, guet, mod.F. guet, Pr. gach, gait), vbl. noun f. waitier (see WAIT v.) and ONF. waite fem. (OF. guaite, gaite, mod.F. guette, guète, Pr. gacha, gaita); it is uncertain whether the fem. sb. is f. the vb., or a direct adoption from Teut. (cf. OHG. wahta, Goth. wahtwō): see WAIT v. The word adopted from Fr. has coalesced with an Eng. formation on WAIT. Cf. AWAIT sb.

1   Many apparent examples of this word in texts of 14–16th c. really belong to the synonymous AWAIT sb., which, like other words beginning with a prefix, was often written as two words. It is possible that the a was in the 16th c. sometimes apprehended by writers and readers as the indefinite article, but distinct evidence of this is wanting.]

2   I.  The action of WAIT v.1

3   1.  In various phrases with the general sense: To take up a concealed position in order to make an unforeseen attack, or to be in readiness to intercept one’s enemy or intended prey in passing; to lurk in ambush.

4   † a.  To sit in wait(s. Obs. rare. (cf. AWAIT sb.)

5 a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter ix. 29. He sites in waites [Vulg. in insidiis] with riche of land In derne, to sla þe vnderand.

6 1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 825. Why satst thou like an enemie in waite Here watching at the head of these that sleep?

7   b.  To lie (or † lay) in wait. † Also, to lie at (the) wait, to lie on wait.

8 c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., IV. 157. For moldywarpes cattes is to kepe To ligge in wayte to touche hem with her cle.

9 c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., I. xix. 113. As if perauenture in oon of thilk weies a man liggith in wait for to sle my seid seruaunt.

10 1450–1530.  Myrr. our Ladye, 311. The faythful saynge of the crede chaseth away fendes whiche lye on wayte to hynder men.

11 1503–4.  Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 36. Preamb., Stanhop … lay in wayte uppon the seid sir William and hym grevously wouneded.

12 1530.  Palsgr., 605/2. I ley in wayte of one to do him a displeasure.

13 a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 31. Or evir he cuild persawe the chancellaris folkis lyand in the wait for him he was in vironit and circuatt round about with thame.

14 1611.  Bible, Ps. x. 9. He lieth in waite secretly as a lyon in his denne, he lieth in wait to catch the poore.

15 1668.  H. Rolle, Abridgm., Action sur Case, 50. Si home dit dun auter, que il lay in wait at shooters hill to rob him, action sur le case gist.

16 a. 1672.  Wood, Life, Sept. (O.H.S.), I. 123. Some of their partie were upon London road neare Thame to lay in wait for provision or wine that came from London towards Aylesbury.

17 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 34, ¶ 5. The five Fields where the Robbers lie in wait.

18 1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxviii. His friend advised that they should lie in wait for the enemy.

19 1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 95/2. Full of rage, he lay in wait for Rosen, and as the latter left the Senate, he rushed upon him sword in hand.

20 1904.  Lady M. Verney, Verney Mem., II. 341. Lying in wait for dowagers’ coaches in tortuous lanes.

21   fig.  1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xxi. 34. May no man lang in welth indure, For wo that evir lyis at the wait.

22 1553.  Gresham, in Burgon, Life (1839), I. 118. To the intent to prevent the marchaunts, bothe strangers and Englishe, who allwayes lay in wayte to prevent my devisses.

23 a. 1613.  Overbury, Characters, Meere Fellow, Wks. (1856), 129. His religion lies in wait for the inclination of his patron.

24 1704.  Swift, T. Tub, ii. A ring of disciples, who lie in wait to catch up their droppings.

25 1784.  Cowper, Task, III. 553. Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart The process.

26 1785.  T. Balguy, Disc., 47. He is constantly lying at wait to correct them.

27 1791.  Charlotte Smith, Celestina, III. 212. He … had indeed no other design than to lay in wait for traces of that involved mystery.

28 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., II. i. The habit … had given him a suspicious manner, or a manner that would be better described as one of lying in wait.

29   † c.  To lie wait. Obs. rare.

30 1445.  in Anglia, XXVIII. 269. Ambicion … which evir lyeth waite at chambir dorys.

31 a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 55. Thair followit na thing bot slaughter…, ilk ane lyand wait for wther as they had ben settand tinchellis for the murther of wyld beistes.

32   d.  To lay wait, † lay one’s wait.

33 1577.  Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist., Euseb., X. viii. 206. But God being the friend … or Constantinus brought to light the wayte layde for him in secret.

34 1586.  Thynne, Contn. Ann. Scot., 457/1, in Holinshed. But, hauing wait laid for him by an ambush of his enimies, he was in his iorneie towards his castell intercepted.

35 1597.  Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 333. Wherefore they layed wait for him as hee came one day from hunting, and murdered him.

36 1653.  J. Mayer, Expos. Ps. xxxi. 4. When wait was layd for him to kill him in his house.

37 1665.  Manley, Grotius’ Low-C. Wars, 169. Although they could escape all the wait laid for them by Pirates.

38 1841.  G. P. R. James, Brigand, iii. They were known to lay wait in all the principal passes, both of Piedmont and Savoy.

39   transf. and fig.  1535.  Coverdale, Acts xx. 19. I haue … serued ye Lorde … with many teares and tentacions, which happened vnto me by ye layenges of wayte of the Iewes.

40 1599.  T. Storer, Life & Death Wolsey, G 2 b. Those vnbaptised sacrilegious hands, That onely for Gods vestrie laide their waite.

41 1611.  Bible, Jer. ix. 8. One speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his waite.

42 1755.  Monitor, I. 27. Can a free constitution be out of danger, where one part of it lays wait to destroy the energy of another?

43 1799.  E. Du Bois, Piece Family Biog., II. 42. By laying wait for a favourable moment, she might ultimately obtain the enjoyment of her criminal passion.

44 1891.  Sat. Rev., 14 Nov., 563/2. Their … followers laid perpetual wait to steal.

45   † e.  To take under wait: to capture or surprise by an ambush. Obs.

46 1533.  Bellenden, Livy (S.T.S.), I. 180. Þai war na less astonist þan þai had bene tane vnder wait [haud secus quam si in insidias incidissent].

47   † f.  The sb. used without the phrasal context: Ambush. Obs. rare.

48 1533.  Bellenden, Livy (S.T.S.), I. 149. Als sone as hermyneus herde the noyis of Valerius cumpany, he Ischit with his buschement haistely fra þe wate [concurrit ex insidiis].

49 1788.  Burns, Written in Friars-Carse Hermitage, 20. Check thy climbing step, elate, Evils lurk in felon wait.

50 1796.  Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, IV. 375. He was … always in wait to converse with her when she was seated.

51   2.  The action of watching.

52   † a.  In phrases. At (the) wait, on the watch. To do, make wait, to keep watch. To have in wait, to have under observation. Also, to lie in great wait, lay good wait (cf. 1), to be carefully on the watch. Obs.

53 c. 1440.  Partenope 6745 (B. M. MS.). His ffrendes had hym so in watte … That his purpose myght not be Atte Bleys parfouremed.

54 c. 1460.  in Archæologia, XXIX. 339. Þe Fisshe drewe nere vnto þe bayte; Nede haþe no lawe,… þe Egle þerto euer layde goode wayte.

55 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, X. 379. A suttell knycht tharat had gret despyt, Folowyt at wait.

56 1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xlii. 21. And in thir termis can thai say, Do wait, and lat him nocht away.

57 1509.  Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 293. Her sobre temperaunce … wherin she lay in as grete wayte of herself as ony persone myght.

58 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XI. xiv. 83. Quhen as ane Aruns, by hys mortal fait Onto myschewos deid predestinate, Circulis at the wayt.

59 c. 1520.  Everyman (facs.), B j. I haue a great enemy that hath me in wayte Whiche intendeth me for to hyndre.

60 1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccxli. 144/2. The moost parte of the state of the prince … was well knowen with the kynges there about … for they layed great wayte to knowe it.

61 1535.  Hen. VIII., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., 1733, I. App. liv. 141. That they … do make & cause te be made diligent search, wait & espyal, whether the said Bps. & Clergy do … execute … their said charge.

62   † b.  Watchfulness. Obs.

63 1575.  Laneham, Lett. (1871), 18. It waz a sport very pleazaunt … to see … the nimblness and wayt of the dog too take hiz auauntage.

64   3.  a. (Day’s) wait: the duty of keeping guard by day performed by the warders of the Tower.

65 1694.  E. Chamberlayne, Pres. St. Eng., III. 608. The Yeoman Warders of the Tower are 40 in number…. Ten of them are usually upon the Days-wait.

66 1738–47.  in Pegge, Curialia, III. (1791), 103. When the Man waiting for another hath performed such Wait, he shall not be permitted to wait again, so as to continue his Wait for divers Men one after another.

67   b.  The period of attendance at court of a lord- or lady-in-waiting.

68 1884.  World, 20 Aug. 10/1. The Queen always likes the yearly rota of waits to be arranged so that her favourite ladies shall be with her at Balmoral.

69 1893.  Westm. Gaz., 7 July, 1/2. He will have no duties … as his appointed ‘wait’ is from October 3 to 17, when the Queen will be at Balmoral, where the attendance of a Lord-in-Waiting is always dispensed with.

70   4.  The state or condition of waiting or remaining expectant. At wait: in an expectant attitude. In wait: waiting, remaining in a place in expectation of some one coming. rare.

71 1873.  Longf., Wayside Inn, III. Mother’s Ghost, xviii. When she came to the castle gate, There stood her eldest daughter in wait.

72 1875.  Swinburne, Ess. & Stud., 344. Next to this we find a sudden sunny bank in the dim depth of a wood, with a wolf at watch and a rabbit at wait.

73   5.  A period of waiting; spec. Theatr., the time of an audience’s waiting between the acts, or of an actor’s waiting between his appearances in the piece.

74 1855–6.  Dickens, in Forster, Life (1874), III. v. 107. The waits between the acts being very much longer than the acts themselves.

75 1863.  Le Fanu, House by Churchyard, III. ix. 93. This was said after a wait of nearly ten minutes.

76 1876.  Daily News, 27 Oct., 5/6. What a long, tedious wait it was up there on the edge of the wood while we listened … for some sign of Graf Keller’s approach.

77 1884.  Manch. Exam., 16 Oct., 5/4. The audience … passed a long wait pleasantly in singing a number of political songs.

78 1887.  C. E. Pascoe, London of To-day, iv. (ed. 3), 59. The Criterion has a chorus of glee singers to wile away waits through the courses.

79   II.  A person who watches or waits.

80   † 6.  A watchman; a scout, spy. Obs.

81   a.  A military watchman, sentinel or look-out; also a scout, spy; esp. a watchman in a camp, castle or fortified place who was furnished with a horn or trumpet to sound an alarm or to make a signal.

82 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11541. He [Herod] sett his waites bi þe stret, If þai moght wit þaa kinges mett, He commandid son þai suld be slan.

83 13[?].  K. Alis., 4312. Theo knyghtis heore body dubbeth; The waytes bleow, the belle rynges.

84 c. 1325.  Coer de L., 2281. The wayts of that host that did espie, And ful loud began to crie: We are betrayd and y-nome!

85 1340.  Ayenb., 121. Þet is þe wayte of þe castele þet neure ne slepþ.

86 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 395. Þe holy prophete Ezechiel saiþ: ‘If þe wayte or þe wacche-man se ennemys cum [etc.].’

87 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 191. A knyghte þat highte Strabo stode in a weytes place. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., V. v. (1495), 108. And for the eye is in stede of a wayte, kynde settyth hym in the hyghest place of the body.

88 a. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 7222. Euery man to his In owe, The wayte be-gan nyght to blowe.

89 c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1065. Waytes on the walle gan blowe, Knyghtis assemled on a rowe.

90 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 513/2. Wayte, speculator (v.r. explorator).

91 1450–80.  trans. Secreta Secret., lxi. 37. Loke thou haue good waytes and aspies in thyn oste.

92 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, VII. xxxi. 263. At the last by fortune he came to a Castel and there he herd the waytes vpon the wallys.

93 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, III. iv. 60. Mysenus, the wait, on the hie garret seyis, And, with his trumpet, thame a takin maid.

94   transf.  1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxx. (1495), 721. A vynyerde is ofte vysyted and ouerseen of the erthe tylthers and kepers of vynes and a wayte is there set in an hyghe place.

95   b.  A watchman attached to the royal household who sounded the watch, etc., by the blowing of a pipe, trumpet or other wind-instrument.

96 13[?].  K. Alis., 7769. When theo table was y-drawe, Theo wayte gan a pipe blawe.

97 c. 1430.  Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, IV. xlvii. (1869), 198. The ladi that thou hast herd pleye with instrumentes and bereth an horn that is the waite that awaketh the king alle times that he slepeth bi hire blowinge.

98 a. 1440.  Sir Eglam., 1097. Grete lordys were at the assent; Waytys blewe, to mete they wente.

99 a. 1483.  Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 48. A Wayte, that nyghtly, from Mighelmasse till Shere-Thursday, pipeth the watche within this courte fower tymes,… and he to make bon gayte, and [? read at] everey chambre door and office, as well for fyre as for other pikers or perelles…. And under this yoman, a groome wayte.

100 1802.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Gaston de Blondeville (1826), I. 185. And thus it kept, until the wayte piped his second watch in all the courts.

101   c.  A municipal watchman.

102 1418.  Maldon (Essex) Court-Rolls, Bundle 11, no. 3. [Ordered, by consent] ballivorum et magnatum ville, in defectu ministrorum alias dictorum waytes, quod quedam campana ecclesie Omnium Sanctorum et alia campana ecclesie Sancti Petri congruis horis noctis pulsentur, viz., in mane Daybell, et in vespere Curfewe.

103 1419.  Liber Albus (Rolls), 646. Quod quælibet Porta custodiatur per diem per duos homines bene armatos, et de nocte claudetur per Servientem eam inhabitantem; et quod quilibet Serviens habeat unum Wayte, sumptibus suis propriis.

104   † 7.  collect. A body of guards. Obs.

105 1704.  in Pegge, Curialia, III. (1791), 81. Which Twelve Men [of the Guard] are to be chosen by the Six Waits then out of Waiting. Ibid. (1747), 104. Upon Forfeiture of his or their share of such Bounty-Money among the rest of the Wait then and there in waiting.

106   8.  † a. pl. A small body of wind instrumentalists maintained by a city or town at the public charge. Also sing., a member of this body. Obs.

107   They played for the daily diversion of the councillors, on ceremonial and festive occasions, and as a town or city band they entertained the citizens, perambulating the streets, often by night or in the early morning.

108 1298.  [see Waitmeat].

109 1438.  in Cov. Leet Bk., 189. Hyt is ordeyned that they [sic] Trumpet schall haue the rule off the whaytes, and off hem be Cheffe. Ibid. (1467), 335. Also þat þe Waytis of þis Cite … shall not passe þis Cite, but to abbottis & priours within x miles of þis Cite.

110 1499.  in W. Kelly, Notices illustr. Drama (1865), 189. Thomas Wylkyns Wayte. Ibid. (1541), 192. Item paed to Thomas Goldsmyth ffor mendyng of the Towne Waytes Collars iijs. iiijd. Ibid. (1548), 193. Item pd to Mr. Gyllott for the Wayghts gownes xxxvjs vjd.

111 1553.  Machyn, Diary (Camden), 47. [The new Lord Mayor went] toward Westmynter [attended by the] craftes of London … with trumpets blohyng and the whets playing.

112 1571.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 118. Lewis Lockwood, Bagpiper was admitted Wayte of this town.

113 1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 289/2. The waits of the citie were placed with lowd musicke, who cheerfullie & melodiouslie welcomed hir maiestie into the citie, this song being soong by the best voices in the same.

114 1589.  [? Nashe], Almond for Parrat, 2. Who hearing the waites play vnder his window very early, insulted … that [etc.].

115 a. 1596.  Sir T. More (Malone Soc.), 944. Where are the waytes? goe, bid them play, to spend the time awhile.

116 1609.  B. Jonson, Silent Wom., I. i. Trv. A Trumpet should fright him terribly, or the Hau’-boyes? Cle. Out of his senses. The Waights of the citie haue a pension of him, not to come neere that ward.

117 1617.  Moryson, Itin., IV. IV. i. (1903), 301. In like sorte many Cittyes mantayne at publike charge Musitians, vsing Sagbutts, Hoboyes, and such loude Instruments, which wee call the waytes of Cyttyes, and these play at the publicke house of the Citty each day at Noone, when the Senatours goe to dinner, and at all publike Feasts.

118 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Captain, II. ii. Jac. Hark, are the Waits abroad? Fab. Be softer prethee, ’Tis private musick…. Jac. Well I will hear, or sleep, I care not whether.

119 1667.  Lond. Gaz., No. 189/1. The Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of this Town, after a Sermon Preached to them, went to the Market-Cross in their Formalities, the Waytes playing before them.

120 1670.  Moral State Eng., 132. The Weights of the Town who played upon Cornets and Haut-bois.

121 1687.  Wood, Life, 3 Sept. (O.H.S.), III. 230. When he came to Quartervois he was entertaind with the wind musick or waits belonging to the city and Universitie.

122 1731.  Fielding, Letter Writers, II. ii. You are a couple of wretched Scrapers, and play ten Degrees worse than the University Waits.

123 1736.  F. Drake, Eboracum, I. vi. 197. [The sheriffs] are preceeded by the city’s waites, or musicians, in their scarlet liveries and silver badges playing all the way through the streets.

124 1762.  Goldsm., Nash (Globe), 524/1. Upon a stranger’s arrival at Bath he is welcomed by … the voice and music of the city waits.

125 1764.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 202. Ordered that John Bolton and John Langhorn be appointed two publick Waites of this town.

126   b.  pl. A band of musicians and singers who perambulate the streets by night at the approach of Christmas and the New Year playing and singing carols and other seasonable music for gratuities.

127 1773.  Archæologia, II. 66. What we at present call the Waits, or the music on the nights of the Christmas holydays.

128 1801.  Busby, Dict. Mus., s.v. Wayghtes, Those persons who annually, at the approach of Christmas, salute us with their nocturnal concerts, were, and are to this day, called Wayghtes.

129 1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 37. The sound of the Waits,… breaks upon the mid-watches of a winter night.

130 1889.  Grove’s Dict. Mus., IV. 375. Waits, The. A name given, from time immemorial, to the little bands of rustic Musicians who sing and play Carols, by night, in country places, at Christmas-time.

131   † c.  gen. A player on the flute, hautboy, trumpet, etc. Obs.

132 1510.  Stanbridge, Vocabula (W. de W.), D iv. Tibicen, a wayte.

133 1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 501/1. Spondiales vel spondiauli,… such as plaied vpon long pipes at diuine seruice, they may be called the waytes.

134 1600.  Holland, Livy, XVII. Brev. 390. That … as he returned home to his owne house, the waits should sound the hautboies all the way [tibicine canente].

135 1648.  Gage, West Ind., 12. Whom travelling, Indian Waites and Trumpets should accompany.

136   † 9.  One who waits in service, an attendant. Obs.

137 1652.  Benlowes, Theoph., XI. xxx. Still to have toting Waits unseel thine Eyes, In Bed, at Board, when sit, when rise: Such, Card’nal-like, their Paris prize ’bove Paradise.

138   † III.  10. [Originally a transferred use of 8 c.] pl. Wind instruments, either hautboys, shawms or flutes. Also sing. (rare). Obs.

139   [Cf. Sp., Pg. gaita, a kind of flute; the word seems to have been adopted from OF., though no examples of the sense have been found in French of any period.]

140 1530.  Palsgr., 286/1. Wayte an instrument, hauboys.

141 1556.  Withals, Dict. (1562), 68/2. The trumpet or waytes, tuba.

142 1592.  Doctor Faustus, in Thoms, E. E. Prose Rom. (1858), III. 178. Lutes, viols, citterns waits … and all manner of other instruments.

143 1620.  Shelton, 2nd Pt. Don Quix., xxvi. 173. For amongst Moores you haue … a kinde of Shaulmes that bee like our Waytes.

144 [1703.  Motteux, like our Waits or Hautboys.]

145 1636.  C. Butler, Princ. Mus., II. i. 93. [Wind-instruments, as] Waits or Hobois.

146 1683.  Tryon, Way to Health, 654. Waits are under the dominion of Jupiter, in the Sign Libra; the Sounds and harmonious Consorts of this Instrument are great, noble and pleasing to Nature.

147   IV.  11. attrib. and Comb., as wait-pipe, player, -song; † wait captain, the chief of the municipal waits; † wait fee (see quot. 1706); † wait-layer, one who lies in wait; † waitmeat, food supplied to the municipal waits.

148 1565.  in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1888), II. 35. Mr. Mayor called James Atherby then being *Waite Captain.

149 1563.  in Spelman, Gloss., s.v., Per redditum 14s. pro *Wayte fee, and Castle garde.

150 1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Wayt-fee, (old Law-word) Ward-penny, or a Fee anciently paid for keeping Watch and Ward.

151 1600.  Holland, Livy, XL. xii. 1067. He … will … have the world beleeve that I play the part not onely of a secret and cunning *wait-laier, but of an open theefe and a notorious murderer and cut-throte. Ibid. (1632), Cyrupædia, 30. Who ever shall effect this, had need be a waitlayer, a deepe dissembler.

152 1298.  Yorks. Inquisit. (Yorks. Rec. Soc., 1902), III. 84. 2s. for *Waytemete and Schirrefstuthe.

153 14[?].  Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 694/40. Hec colomaula,… *waytepype.

154 1610.  in T. Sharp, Cov. Myst. (1825), 210. Every Maior shall pay to the *waite players iiij d.

155 1872.  Whittier, Penn. Pilgrim, 501. On frosty Christmas eves … he … closed his eyes, and listened to the sweet Old *wait-songs sounding down his native street.

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