Verb

(presum)

Don't make the decision yourself and presume too much.

With infinitive object: to be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission.

I wouldn't presume to tell him how to do his job.

To assume to be true (without proof); to take for granted, to suppose.

* 2011 , John Patterson, The Guardian , 5 Feb 2011:

If we presume that human cloning may one day become a mundane, everyday reality, then maybe it's time to start thinking more positively about our soon-to-arrive genetically engineered pseudo-siblings.

To be presumptuous; with (on), (upon), to take advantage (of), to take liberties (with).

* 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 75:

Piliso then vented his anger on us, accusing us of lying to him. He said we had presumed on his hospitality and the good name of the regent.

Verb

(en verb)

To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)

* Dryden

Awed with these words, in camps they still abide, / And wait with longing looks their promised guide.

* 1992 , (Hilary Mantel), A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 30:

The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.

To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.

* (John Milton)

They also serve who only stand and wait .

* (John Dryden)

Haste, my dear father; 'tis no time to wait .

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait .}}

(US) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.

(obsolete) To attend on; to accompany; especially, to attend with ceremony or respect.

* Dryden

He chose a thousand horse, the flower of all / His warlike troops, to wait the funeral.

* Rowe

Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, / And everlasting anguish be thy portion.

(obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.

(obsolete) To defer or postpone (a meal).

to wait dinner