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Wail vs Wait - What's the difference?

wail | wait |

As a noun wail

is a prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish.

As a verb wail

is to cry out, as in sorrow or anguish or wail can be (obsolete) to choose; to select.

As an adjective wait is

far.

As an adverb wait is

far.

wail

English

Etymology 1

Probably from (etyl) Etymology in Webster's Dictionary

Noun

(en noun)
  • A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish.
  • She let out a loud, doleful wail .
  • Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.
  • The wail of snow-dark winter winds.
    A bird's wail in the night.
  • A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
  • To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
  • To make a noise like mourning or crying.
  • The wind wailed and the rain streamed down.
  • To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
  • to wail one's death
    (Shakespeare)
  • (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Derived terms
    * wailer * wailingly
    References

    Etymology 2

    Compare Icelandic word for "choice".

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To choose; to select.
  • * Henryson
  • Wailed wine and meats
    (Webster 1913) English terms with homophones

    wait

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    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 (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)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

    Usage notes

    * In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Synonyms

    * (delay until event) hold one's breath

    Derived terms

    * can't wait * wait staff * wait state * wait for * wait on * wait tables * waiter * waiting room * waitperson * waitress * waitron

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A delay.
  • I had a very long wait at the airport security check.
  • An ambush.
  • They laid in wait for the patrol.
  • * Milton
  • an enemy in wait
  • (obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.
  • (in the plural, obsolete, UK) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.
  • (Halliwell)
  • (in the plural, archaic, UK) Musicians who sing or play at night or in the early morning, especially at Christmas time; serenaders; musical watchmen. [formerly waites, wayghtes.]
  • * (rfdate)
  • Hark! are the waits abroad?
  • * (rfdate)
  • 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.

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