Wait

Wait - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

WAIT, v.i. [The sense is to stop, or to continue.]

1. To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary, till the arrival of some person or event. Thus we say, I went to the place of meeting, and there waited an hour for the moderator or chairman. I will go to the hotel, and there wait till you come. We will wait for the mail.

2. To stay proceedings, or suspend any business, in expectation of some person, event, or the arrival of some hour. The court was obliged to wait for a witness.

3. To rest in expectation and patience.

All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Job 14.

4. To stay; not to depart.

Haste, my dear father, tis no time to wait.

5. To stay; to continue by reason of hindrance.

6. To lie in ambush, as an enemy.

Such ambush waited to intercept thy way.

To wait on or upon, to attend, as a servant; to perform menial services for; as, to wait on a gentleman; to wait on the table.

To wait on,

1. To attend; to go to see; to visit on business or for ceremony. Tell the gentleman I will wait on him at ten oclock.

2. To pay servile or submissive attendance.

3. To follow, as a consequence; as the ruin that waits on such a supine temper. [Instead of this, we use await.]

4. To look watchfully.

It is a point of cunning to wait on him with whom you speak, with your eye. [Unusual.]

5. To attend to; to perform.

Aaron and his sons shall wait on their priests office. Num 3, 8. Rom 12.

6. To be ready to serve; to obey. Psa 25. Prov 20.

To wait at, to attend in service; to perform service at. 1 Cor 9.

To wait for, to watch, as an enemy. Job 15.

WAIT, v.t.

1. To stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of the arrival of.

Awd with these words, in camps they still abide, and wait with longing eyes their promisd guide. [Elliptical for wait for.]

2. To attend; to accompany with submission or respect.

He chose a thousand horse, the flowr of all his warlike troops, to wait the funeral. [This use is not justifiable, but by poetical license.]

3. To attend as a consequence of something.

Such doom waits luxury--

[Not in use. In this sense we use attend or attend on.]

WAIT, n. Ambush. As a noun, this word is used only in certain phrases. To lie in wait, is to lie in ambush; to be secreted in order to fall by surprise on an enemy; hence figuratively, to lay snares, or to make insidious attempts, or to watch for the purpose of ensnaring. Josh 8.

In wait, is used in a like sense by Milton.

To lay wait, to set an ambush. Jer 9.

wat:

1. The Substantive:

The word is used in the Old Testament both as a substantive add as a verb. In the New Testament it appears as a verb only. 'erebh, ma'arabh, mean a concealed hiding-place for purposes of sudden attack, an ambuscade.

(1) "Lie in wait": "Abimelech rose up .... from lying in wait" (Jud 9:35 the King James Version); "When they .... abide in the covert to lie in wait" (Job 38:40).

(2) "Lay wait": "They compassed him in, and laid wait for him" (Jud 16:2).

2. The Verb:

(1) sharath, "to serve," "to minister," to act in the capacity of servant or attendant: "These waited on the king" (2Ch 17:19). Used especially in this sense with regard to the ceremonial service of the host: "They shall go in to wait upon the service in the work of the tent of meeting" (Nu 8:24; compare 8:25); "The Levites wait upon their business" (2Ch 13:10 the King James Version). "Wait at" occurs in the same sense in the New Testament: "They which wait at (the Revised Version (British and American) "wait upon") the altar," etc. (1Co 9:13 the King James Version).

(2) The simple verb is used to describe the longsuffering and patience of God toward His willful people: "And therefore will Yahweh wait, that he may be gracious unto you" (Isa 30:18); "When the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah" (apekdechomai, 1Pe 3:20).

(3) The most important and frequent use of the word "wait," however, is to define the attitude of a soul God-ward. It implies the listening ear, a heart responsive to the wooing of God, a concentration of the spiritual faculties upon heavenly things, the patience of faith, "the earnest expectation of the creation" (Ro 8:19). It describes an eager anticipation and yearning for the revelation of truth and love as it is in the Father. Thus: "My soul, wait thou .... for God only" (Ps 69:5); "Our soul hath waited for Yahweh" (Ps 33:20); "Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God" (Ps 69:3); "Wait for Yahweh, and he will save thee" (Pr 20:22).

Also the New Testament thus: "Waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Ro 8:23); "For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness" (Ga 5:5). From various references in the New Testament there seems to have been in the days of Jesus a sect in whose name the word "wait" played an important part. Of the aged Simeon, who met Mary and Joseph when they brought the infant Jesus to the temple, it is said that he was "waiting for (the Revised Version (British and American) "looking for") the consolation of Israel" (Lu 2:25), that is, he was looking for the fulfillment of the Messianic promise. Again, after our Lord's crucifixion, when Joseph of Arimathea begged for the body of Jesus, we are told that he was one of those that "waited for the kingdom of God" (prosdechomai, Mr 15:43 the King James Version; Lu 23:51 the King James Version). It is thought by some authorities that this implies their having belonged to the sect of the Essenes. Epiphanius associates the sect with one which he names "Gortheni," whose title is derived from a word which means "to expect."

Arthur Walwyn Evans