waiting
noun
- awaiting/expecting the arrival of a person, a thing, an event; sometimes bound to a particular place; is delaying movement or action
- serve tables
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L342430 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈweɪtɪŋ/ / [ˈweɪ̯ɾɪŋ]
noun
Etymology: From Middle English waitynge, waytynge, equivalent to wait + -ing.
- Watching, observation; keeping watch, guarding.
- The act of staying or remaining in expectation.
“Waiting for any news in a waiting room. (gerund)”
“In all ages, men have fought over words, without waiting to know what the words really signified.”
- Attendance, service.
“But it had never occurred to him that he should live in any other than what he would have called an ordinary way, with green glasses for hock, and excellent waiting at table.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English waitinge, waytynge, waitende, weytende, waitand, waytand, equivalent to wait + -ing.
- present participle and gerund of wait
“Your guest has been waiting for you. (progressive) They hurried into the waiting car. (participle used as adjective)”
“At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.”