``But [unless] ye wait well and be privy, I wot
right well, I am but dead,'' quoth she. --Chaucer.
2. To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain
stationary till the arrival of some person or event; to
rest in patience; to stay; not to depart.
All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till
my change come. --Job xiv. 14.
They also serve who only stand and wait. --Milton.
Haste, my dear father; 't is no time to wait.
--Dryden.
There is a wait of three hours at the border Mexican
town of El Paso. --S. B.
Griffin.
2. Ambush. ``An enemy in wait.'' --Milton.
3. One who watches; a watchman. [Obs.]
4. pl. Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians; not used
in the singular. [Obs.] --Halliwell.
5. pl. Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early
morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical
watchmen. [Written formerly {wayghtes}.]
Hark! are the waits abroad? --Beau & Fl.
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. --W.
Irving.
{To lay wait}, to prepare an ambuscade.
{To lie in wait}. See under 4th {Lie}.
Awed with these words, in camps they still abide,
And wait with longing looks their promised guide.
--Dryden.
2. To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany;
to await. [Obs.]
3. To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with
ceremony or respect. [Obs.]
He chose a thousand horse, the flower of all His
warlike troops, to wait the funeral. --Dryden.
Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, And
everlasting anguish be thy portion. --Rowe.
4. To cause to wait; to defer; to postpone; -- said of a
meal; as, to wait dinner. [Colloq.]