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wait on
verb
to serve at the table of
to act as an attendant or servant to
archaicto visit
interjection
stop! hold on!
Idioms and Phrases
Also, wait upon . Serve, minister to, especially for personal needs or in a store or restaurant. For example, Guests at the Inn should not expect to be waited on—they can make their own beds and get their own breakfast . [Early 1500s]
Make a formal call on, as in They waited on the ambassador . [c. 1500]
Also, wait upon . Await, remain in readiness for, as in We're waiting on their decision to close the school . This usage, a synonym of wait for , dates from the late 1600s but in the mid-1800s began to be criticized by many authorities. However, by the late 1900s it had come into increasingly wider use and is again largely accepted.
Example Sentences
Mr Bartusek said he was currently waiting on three containers worth of steel rod, which would have entered the US without duties at the start of the year.
Asked about his claim – repudiated by Israel - that thousands of lorries were waiting on the border to enter Gaza, Mr Fletcher repeated that he especially needed to be "careful and really precise".
“We don’t know why it’s stuck there and why the administration hasn’t moved forward, but it seems, like, with everything these days, they’re waiting on the president’s green light.”
While the plane was waiting on the tarmac of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, a second person was removed from the flight for "unruly behaviour", authorities said.
On the ferry, Nick would pick a lorry that another smuggling-gang member waiting on dry land would spot easily.
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