Wait vs Bait - What's the difference?
wait | bait |
To delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)
* Dryden
* 1992 , (Hilary Mantel), A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 30:
To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.
* (John Milton)
* (John Dryden)
*
, 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
* Rowe
(obsolete) To attend as a consequence; to follow upon; to accompany.
(obsolete) To defer or postpone (a meal).
A delay.
An ambush.
* Milton
(obsolete) One who watches; a watchman.
(in the plural, obsolete, UK) Hautboys, or oboes, played by town musicians.
(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)
* (rfdate)
Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net.
Food containing poison or a harmful additive to kill animals that are pests.
Anything which allures; a lure; enticement; temptation.
A portion of food or drink, as a refreshment taken on a journey; also, a stop for rest and refreshment.
A light or hasty luncheon.
To attract with bait; to entice.
To affix bait to a trap or a fishing hook or fishing line.
* Washington Irving
To set dogs on (an animal etc.) to bite or worry; to attack with dogs, especially for sport.
:to bait''' a bear with dogs; to '''bait a bull
To intentionally annoy, torment, or threaten by constant rebukes or threats; to harass.
To feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.
*, Bk.V, Ch.ix:
*:And than they com into a lowe medow that was full of swete floures, and there thes noble knyghtes bayted her horses.
Of a horse or other animal: to take food, especially during a journey.
*, II.22:
*:King Cyrus , that he might more speedily receave news from al parts of his Empire (which was of exceeding great length), would needs have it tried how far a horse could in a day goe outright without baiting , at which distance he caused stations to be set up, and men to have fresh horses ready for al such as came to him.
To stop to take a portion of food and drink for refreshment during a journey.
*Milton
*:Evil news rides post, while good news baits .
*Evelyn
*:My lord's coach conveyed me to Bury, and thence baiting at Newmarket.
(obsolete) To flap the wings; to flutter as if to fly; or to hover, as a hawk when she stoops to her prey.
* Shakespeare
In transitive now _ rare terms the difference between wait and bait
is that wait is to delay movement or action until the arrival or occurrence of; to await. (Now generally superseded by "wait for". while bait is to feed and water (a horse or other animal), especially during a journey.In intransitive terms the difference between wait and bait
is that wait is to delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness while bait is of a horse or other animal: to take food, especially during a journey.wait
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Verb
(en verb)- Awed with these words, in camps they still abide, / And wait with longing looks their promised guide.
- The Court had assembled, to wait events, in the huge antechamber known as the Œil de Boeuf.
- They also serve who only stand and wait .
- Haste, my dear father; 'tis no time to wait .
- He chose a thousand horse, the flower of all / His warlike troops, to wait the funeral.
- Remorse and heaviness of heart shall wait thee, / And everlasting anguish be thy portion.
- to wait dinner
Usage notes
* In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . SeeSynonyms
* (delay until event) hold one's breathDerived terms
* can't wait * wait staff * wait state * wait for * wait on * wait tables * waiter * waiting room * waitperson * waitress * waitronNoun
(en noun)- I had a very long wait at the airport security check.
- They laid in wait for the patrol.
- an enemy in wait
- (Halliwell)
- Hark! are the waits abroad?
- 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.
Statistics
*bait
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) bait, beite, from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- (Fairfax)
Usage notes
Used in Geordie dialect of English to denote your lunch at work as opposed to other meals. Also used in East Anglian dialect of English to denote a small meal taken mid-morning while farming, and in the North of England to denote a snack taken by miners to eat while working.Derived terms
* baiting * flamebait * jailbait * shark baitReferences
* * * * *Verb
(en verb)- a crooked pin bailed with a vile earthworm
Usage notes
* This verb is sometimes confused in writing with the rare verb (bate), which is pronounced identically; in particular, the expression (with bated breath) is frequently misspelled *(term) by writers unfamiliar with the verb (bate).Etymology 2
From (etyl) baiten, beiten, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)See also
*Etymology 3
(etyl) battre de l'aile'' or ''des ailes , to flap or flutter.Verb
(en verb)- Kites that bait and beat.
