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Waiter vs Wanter - What's the difference?

waiter | wanter |

As nouns the difference between waiter and wanter

is that waiter is a male or sometimes female attendant who or similar while wanter is winter.

waiter

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A male or sometimes female attendant who or similar.
  • * , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=5 citation , passage=A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed.
      ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’}}
  • (literally) Someone who waits for somebody or something; a person who is waiting.
  • (obsolete) A vessel or tray on which something is carried, as dishes, etc.; a salver.

    • Derived terms

    * landwaiter * tide waiter

    Related terms

    * wait * waitress

    See also

    * barista * bartender * * server

    References

    wanter

    English

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who wants, or who wants something
  • * {{quote-book, year=1857, author=Various, title=The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume IV., chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=Witless hizzie, e'en 's you like, The ne'er a doit I 'm carin'; But men maun be the first to speak, An' wanters maun be speerin'. }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1898, author=Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, title=Scottish sketches, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=But if Donald McFarlane wants money, he's got kin that can accommodate him, James; wanters arena always that fortunate. }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1921, author=Various, title=The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=You see, the trouble with Americans is that they are the greatest wanters of cake after they've eaten it the world has ever seen. }}

    Etymology 2

    Contraction of want to

    Verb

    (head)
  • * {{quote-book, year=1901, author=Henry Lawson, title=Joe Wilson and His Mates, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=I reckon it weighs about a ton by the weight of it if yer wanter know. }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1925, author=Amy Lowell, title=Men, Women and Ghosts, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=Here, lift over them crates o' oranges I wanter fix 'em in the winder." }}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1936-1938, author=Works Projects Administration, title=Slave Narratives Vol. XIV. South Carolina, Part 2, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=My birthday over, I wanter go right home to Heaven. }}