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WAIT,
to watch, stay in expectation, abide, lie in ambush. (F.,—O.H.G.)
M. E. waiten, P. Plowman, B. v. 202; Havelok, 512.—O. F. waiter,
waitier (Roquefort, with a quotation), also gaiter, gaitier (Burguy),
later guetter, 'to watch, warde, mark, heed, note, dog, stalk after, like
in wait for;' Cot. A denominative verb.—O. F. waite, gaite
(Burguy), a guard, sentinel, watchman or spy; later guet, 'watch, ward,
heed, also the watch, or company appointed to watch;' Cot.—O. H. G. wahta,
M. H. G. wahte, G. wacht, a guard, watch; whence was formed G. wächter,
a watchman. (The Icel. vakta, to watch, is merely borrowed from G.,
not a true Scand. word.) β. The sb. wah-ta is lit. 'a watching,' or
'a being awake;' formed with suffix -ta, as in O. H. G. and Goth. ras-ta, rest.—O.
H. G. wahhén, G. wachen, to be brisk, to be awake; cognate with A. S.
wacian,
weak verb, to watch, and closely allied to A. S. wacan, to wake; see Watch and
Wake. Der. wait-er, M. E.
waitere, a watchman, Wyclif, 4 Kings, ix.
17 (one MS. of later version). Also wait, sb., chiefly in the phr.
'to lie in wait,' Acts, xxiii. 21; the M. E. waite properly signifies a watchman
or spy, as in Cursor Mundi, 11541, from O. F. waite, as above, and is really an
older word than the verb, as above shewn; it only remains to us in the phrase
'the Christmas waits,' where a wait is 'one who is awake,' for the purpose of
playing music at night; cf. 'Wayte, a spye; Wayte, waker, Vigil;' Prompt. Parv.
'Assint etiam excubie vigiles [glossed by O. F. veytes veliables], cornibus suis
strepitum et clangorem et sonitum facientes;' Wright's Voc. i. 106, l.
1. Also wait-ing, wait-ing-woman, K. Lear, iv. I. 65.
ADDENDA
Anglo-F. wayter, to
watch, Langtoft's Chron. i. 448; spelt guaiter, Laws of Will. I. §
28. We find also wayte, sb., a watchman, Lib. Albus, p. 646;
spelt gayte, p. 647.
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