[wait] vb [ME, fr. ONF waitier to watch, of Gmc origin; akin to OHG wahta watch, OE waeccan to watch--more at wake] vt (14c) 1: to stay in place in expectation of: await
2: to delay serving (a meal)
3: to serve as waiter for "~ tables" ~ vi 1 a: to remain stationary in readiness or expectation "~ for a train" b: to pause for another to catch up--usu. used with up
2. a: to look forward expectantly "just ~ing to see his rival lose" b: to hold back expectantly "~ing for a chance to strike"
3: to serve at meals--usu. used in such phrases as wait on tables or wait on table
4. a: to be ready and available "slippers ~ing by the bed" b: to remain temporarily neglected or unrealized -- wait on also wait upon 1 a: to attend as a servant b: to supply the wants of: serve
2: to make a formal call on
3: to wait for -- wait up : to delay going to bed: stay up usage American dialectologists have evidence showing wait on (sense 3) to be more a Southern than a Northern form in speech. Handbook writers universally denigrate wait on and prescribe wait for in writing. Our evidence from printed sources does not show a regional preference; it does show that the handbooks' advice is not based on current usage "settlement of the big problems still waited on Russia --Time" "I couldn't make out ... whether Harper was waiting on me for approval --E. B. White" "the staggering bill that waited on them at the white commissary downtown --Maya Angelou". One reason for the continuing use of wait on may lie in its being able to suggest protracted or irritating waits better than wait for "for two days I've been waiting on weather --Charles A. Lindbergh" "the boredom of black Africans sitting there, waiting on the whims of a colonial bureaucracy --Vincent Canby" "doesn't care to sit around waiting on a House that's virtually paralyzed --Glenn A. Briere". Wait on is less common than wait for, but if it seems natural, there is no reason to avoid it.
[2]wait n [ME waite watchman, public musician, wait, fr. ONF, watchman, watch, of Gmc origin; akin to OHG wahta watch] (14c) 1 a: a hidden or concealed position--used chiefly in the expression lie in wait b: a state or attitude of watchfulness and expectancy "anchored in ~ for early morning fishing --Fred Zimmer"
2. a: one of a band of public musicians in England employed to play for processions or public entertainments b (1): one of a group who serenade for gratuities esp. at the Christmas season (2): a piece of music by such a group
3: an act or period of waiting "a long ~ in line"