waiting
[wey-ting]
- a period of waiting; pause, interval, or delay.
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- serving or being in attendance: waiting man; waiting maid; waiting woman.
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- in waiting, in attendance, as upon a royal personage.
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Origin of waiting
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Idioms and Phrases with in waiting
in waiting
In attendance, especially on a royal personage. For example, The prelates who were in waiting asked him to take the last rites. This usage has become less common with the diminution of royalty and royal courts but still survives. [Late 1600s]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.