Definition of wait

"wait" in the noun sense

1. delay, hold, time lag, postponement, wait

time during which some action is awaited

"instant replay caused too long a delay"

"he ordered a hold in the action"

2. wait, waiting

the act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something

"the wait was an ordeal for him"

"wait" in the verb sense

1. wait

stay in one place and anticipate or expect something

"I had to wait on line for an hour to get the tickets"

2. wait, hold off, hold back

wait before acting

"the scientists held off announcing their results until they repeated the experiment"

3. expect, look, await, wait

look forward to the probable occurrence of

"We were expecting a visit from our relatives"

"She is looking to a promotion"

"he is waiting to be drafted"

4. wait, waitress

serve as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant

"I'm waiting on tables at Maxim's"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for wait

Learn to labor and to wait. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]

I wait with listening ears. [ Virgil ]

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for every fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait. [ Longfellow ]

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing.
Learn to labor and to wait. [ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ]

The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon Him here,
Blest fishers were; and fish the last
Food was, that He on earth did taste:
I therefore strive to follow those,
Whom He to follow Him hath chose. [ Izaak Walton ]

If you have time, don't wait for time. [ Franklin ]

Let cheerfulness on happy fortune wait. [ Dryden ]

They also serve who only stand and wait. [ Milton ]

Everything comes if a man will only wait. [ Beaconsfield or Benjamin Disraeli ]

There is, sir, a critical minute in
Every man's wooing, when his mistress may
Be won, which if he carelessly neglect
To prosecute, he may wait long enough
Before he gain the like opportunity. [ Marmion ]

Harmless all malice, if our God be nigh;
Fruitless all pains, if he his help deny.
Patient I pass these gloomy hours away,
And wait the morning of eternal day! [ Lady Jane Dudley ]

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,
And though a late, a sure reward succeeds. [ William Congreve ]

All round the room my silent servants wait,
My friends in every season, bright and dim. [ Barry Cornwall ]

No pleader can pervail
Who prays against the laws of Time or Fate,
No matter how we murmur and bewail.
The robins will not build in winter hail
Nor lilacs bloom in February. Wait. [ Elizabeth Akers ]

Upon her wit doth earthly honours wait,
And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown. [ William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act II. Sc.1 ]

Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret. [ Emerson ]

Riches like insects when concealed they lie,
Wait but for wings, and in their season fly. [ Pope ]

The crackling embers on the hearth are dead;
The indoor note of industry is still;
The latch is fast; upon the window-sill
The small birds wait not for their daily bread;
The voiceless flowers - how quietly they shed
Their nightly odours; - and the household rill
Murmurs continuous dulcet sounds that fill
The vacant expectation, and the dread
Of listening night. [ Hartley Coleridge ]

Little things blame not: Grace may on them wait.
Cupid is little; but his godhead's great. [ Anon ]

Critics on verse, as squibs on triumphs wait.
Proclaim their glory, and augment the state;
Hot, envious, noisy, proud, the scribbling fry
Burn, hiss, and bounce, waste paper, ink, and die. [ Young ]

Work for immortality if you will; then wait for it. [ J. G. Holland ]

To know how to wait is the great secret of success. [ De Maistre ]

Zeal and duty ... on occasion's forelock watchful wait. [ Milton ]

Now, good digestion wait on appetite. And health on both! [ William Shakespeare ]

Wait till night before saying that the day has been fine. [ French Proverb ]

Everything comes in time to the man who knows how to wait. [ French Proverb ]

Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow. [ William Shakespeare ]

Zeal and duty are not slow; But on occasion's forelock watchful wait. [ Milton ]

It is the fate of a woman
Long to be patient and silent, to wait like a ghost that is speechless,
Till some questioning voice dissolves the spell of its silence. [ Longfellow ]

We usually learn to wait only when we have no longer anything to wait for. [ Marie Ebner-Eschenbach ]

I am young, it is true; but in noble souls, valor does not wait for years. [ Corneille ]

Fortune often rewards with interest those that have patience to wait for her. [ Proverb ]

It is uncertain at what place death awaits thee. Wait thou for it at every place. [ Seneca ]

Fortune is like a market, where many times if you wait a little the price will fall. [ Bacon ]

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good actions; try to use ordinary situations. [ Richter ]

Perhaps the greatest lesson which the lives of literary men teach us is told in a single word: Wait! [ Longfellow ]

If you are going to do a good thing, do it now; if you are going to do a mean thing, wait till tomorrow.

In life, woman must wait until she is asked to love; as in a salon she waits for an invitation to dance. [ A. Karr ]

Surely the best way is to meet the enemy in the field, and not wait till he plunders us in our very bed-chamber. [ Goldsmith ]

Sleep is a god too proud to wait in palaces, and yet so humble too as not to scorn the meanest country cottages. [ Cowley ]

To wait for what never comes, to lie abed and not sleep, to serve and not be advanced, are three things to die of. [ Italian Proverb ]

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it. [ Johnson ]

He that waits for repentance waits for that which cannot be had as long as it is waited for. It is absurd for a man to wait for that which he himself has to do. [ Nevins ]

It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck. [ Colton ]

A good deal depends upon luck as well as care, and sometimes a writer must wait, or even leave off and return to work again, before he can hit upon the turn of words required. [ Richard D. Blackmore, The Art Of Authorship, 1891 ]

We are in hot haste to set the world right and to order all affairs; the Lord hath the leisure of conscious power and unerring wisdom, and it will be well for us to learn to wait. [ Spurgeon ]

How oft my guardian angel gently cried, Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see How he persists to knock and wait for thee! And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow, Tomorrow we will open, I replied. And when the morrow came I answered still, Tomorrow. [ Tome Burguillos ]

Eyes speak all languages; wait for no letter of introduction; they ask no leave of age or rank; they respect neither poverty nor riches, neither learning, nor power, nor virtue, nor sex, but intrude and come again, and go through and through you in a moment of time. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

For ages the world has been waiting and watching; millions, with broken hearts, have hovered around the yawning abyss; but no echo has come back from the engulfing gloom - silence, oblivion, covers all. If indeed they survive; if they went away whole and victorious, they give us no signals. We wait for years, but no messages come from the far-away shore to which they have gone. [ Bishop R. S. Foster ]

When the great Kepler had at length discovered the harmonic laws that regulate the motions of the heavenly bodies, he exclaimed: Whether my discoveries will be read by posterity or by my contemporaries is a matter that concerns them more than me. I may well be contented to wait one century for a reader, when God Himself, during so many thousand years, has waited for an observer like myself. [ Macaulay ]

Poetical taste is the only magician whose wand is not broken. No hand, except its own, can dissolve the fabric of beauty in which it dwells. Genii, unknown to Arabian fable, wait at the portal. Whatever is most precious from the loom or the mine of fancy is poured at its feet. Love, purified by contemplation, visits and cheers it; unseen musicians are heard in the dark; it is Psyche in the palace of Cupid. [ Willmott ]

Eyes are bold as lions, roving, running, leaping, here and there, far and near. They speak all languages; they wait for no introduction; they are no Englishmen; ask no leave of age or rank; they respect neither poverty nor riches, neither learning nor power, nor virtue, nor sex, but intrude, and come again, and go through and through you in a moment of time. What inundation of life and thought is discharged from one soul into another through them! [ Emerson ]

wait in Scrabble®

The word wait is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 7

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Play In The Letters wait:

WAIT
(33)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word wait

WAIT
(33)
WAIT
(24)
WAIT
(22)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(16)
WAIT
(15)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(12)
WAIT
(11)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(7)

The 87 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In wait

WAIT
(33)
WAIT
(24)
WAIT
(22)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WIT
(18)
TAW
(18)
WIT
(18)
TAW
(18)
WIT
(18)
TAW
(18)
WAIT
(16)
WAIT
(15)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
TAW
(14)
WIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
TAW
(12)
WAIT
(12)
WIT
(12)
WIT
(12)
WIT
(12)
TAW
(12)
TAW
(12)
TAW
(11)
WAIT
(11)
WIT
(11)
TAW
(10)
WIT
(10)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WIT
(8)
WIT
(8)
TAW
(8)
WAIT
(8)
TAW
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(8)
TAW
(7)
TAW
(7)
WIT
(7)
WIT
(7)
WAIT
(7)
AT
(6)
AI
(6)
TA
(6)
TAW
(6)
WIT
(6)
AI
(6)
AT
(6)
TA
(6)
IT
(6)
IT
(6)
AT
(4)
AT
(4)
AT
(4)
AI
(4)
AT
(4)
TA
(4)
IT
(4)
IT
(4)
AI
(4)
IT
(4)
IT
(4)
AI
(4)
TA
(4)
TA
(4)
AI
(4)
TA
(4)
AI
(3)
TA
(3)
IT
(3)
AT
(3)
AT
(3)
IT
(3)
AI
(3)
TA
(3)
AT
(2)
IT
(2)
TA
(2)
AI
(2)

wait in Words With Friends™

The word wait is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 7

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Play In The Letters wait:

WAIT
(45)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word wait

WAIT
(45)
WAIT
(27)
WAIT
(22)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(17)
WAIT
(16)
WAIT
(15)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(12)
WAIT
(12)
WAIT
(11)
WAIT
(11)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(7)

The 92 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In wait

WAIT
(45)
WAIT
(27)
WAIT
(22)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WAIT
(21)
WIT
(18)
TAW
(18)
WIT
(18)
TAW
(18)
TAW
(18)
WIT
(18)
WAIT
(17)
TAW
(16)
WAIT
(16)
WIT
(16)
WAIT
(15)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
TAW
(14)
WIT
(14)
WAIT
(14)
TAW
(12)
TAW
(12)
WAIT
(12)
WAIT
(12)
WIT
(12)
WIT
(12)
WIT
(12)
TAW
(12)
WAIT
(11)
WAIT
(11)
WIT
(11)
TAW
(11)
TAW
(10)
WIT
(10)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WAIT
(9)
WIT
(8)
TAW
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WIT
(8)
TAW
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(8)
WAIT
(7)
WIT
(7)
TAW
(7)
WIT
(7)
TAW
(7)
AT
(6)
WIT
(6)
AT
(6)
AI
(6)
AI
(6)
TAW
(6)
IT
(6)
IT
(6)
TA
(6)
TA
(6)
IT
(4)
AI
(4)
AI
(4)
TA
(4)
TA
(4)
IT
(4)
AT
(4)
AT
(4)
AT
(4)
TA
(4)
AT
(4)
AI
(4)
IT
(4)
IT
(4)
AI
(4)
TA
(4)
AI
(3)
AT
(3)
TA
(3)
AI
(3)
TA
(3)
AT
(3)
IT
(3)
IT
(3)
AT
(2)
TA
(2)
IT
(2)
AI
(2)

Words within the letters of wait

2 letter words in wait (4 words)

3 letter words in wait (2 words)

4 letter words in wait (1 word)

wait + 1 blank (4 words)

Word Growth involving wait

Shorter words in wait

ai

it

Longer words containing wait

await awaited longawaited

await awaited reawaited

await awaiter awaiters

await awaiting reawaiting

await awaits reawaits

await reawait reawaited

await reawait reawaiting

await reawait reawaits

outwait outwaited

outwait outwaiting

outwait outwaits

waited awaited longawaited

waited awaited reawaited

waited outwaited

waiter awaiter awaiters

waiter dumbwaiter dumbwaiters

waiter headwaiter headwaiters

waiter waiters awaiters

waiter waiters dumbwaiters

waiter waiters headwaiters

waitfree

waiting awaiting reawaiting

waiting outwaiting

waiting waitingroom waitingrooms

waitlist waitlisted

waitlist waitlisting

waitlist waitlists

waitress waitressed

waitress waitresses

waitress waitressing

waitress waitressless

waits awaits reawaits

waits outwaits