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Waist vs Wait - What's the difference?

waist | wait |

As nouns the difference between waist and wait

is that waist is the part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach while wait is a delay.

As a verb wait is

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 (Now generally superseded by "wait for"..

waist

English

Alternative forms

* (l), (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
  • A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
  • The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
  • The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
  • (nautical) That part of the upper deck of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
  • * 1851 ,
  • There he stood, very quietly overlooking some sailmakers who were mending a top-sail in the waist .

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from waist) * pantywaist * waistband * waistcoat * waistless * waistline

    Anagrams

    * *

    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 (Now generally superseded by "wait for".)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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