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Wait vs Dwell - What's the difference?

wait | dwell | Related terms |

Wait is a related term of dwell.


As an adjective wait

is far.

As an adverb wait

is far.

As a noun dwell is

(engineering) a period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.

As a verb dwell is

to live; to reside.

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 (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)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.

    Statistics

    *

    dwell

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (engineering) A period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
  • (engineering) A brief pause in the motion of part of a mechanism to allow an operation to be completed.
  • (electrical engineering) A planned delay in a timed control program.
  • (automotive) In a petrol engine, the period of time the ignition points are closed to let current flow through the ignition coil in between each spark. This is measured as an angle in degrees around the camshaft in the distributor which controls the points, for example in a 4-cylinder engine it might be 55° (spark at 90° intervals, points closed for 55° between each).
  • Verb

  • To live; to reside.
  • * Peacham
  • the parish in which I was born, dwell , and have possessions
  • * C. J. Smith
  • The poor man dwells in a humble cottage near the hall where the lord of the domain resides.
  • To linger (on ) a particular thought, idea etc.; to remain fixated (on).
  • (engineering) To be in a given state.
  • To abide; to remain; to continue.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I'll rather dwell in my necessity.
  • * Wordsworth
  • Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart.

    See also

    * abide * live * reside * stay

    References

    * * English irregular verbs