wait on
Britishverb
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to serve at the table of
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to act as an attendant or servant to
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archaic to visit
interjection
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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]
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Make a formal call on, as in They waited on the ambassador . [c. 1500]
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Others wait on bikes, ready to track the train as it barrels forward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
“We never wait on a green light from anyone to tell the stories that we want to tell, and social media has already given us that opportunity,” Tales said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The two men had to wait on a ledge for hours until they could be found, then had to leave the mountain without their mate.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
But the question of whether it made cynical sense to hack the situation’s geopolitics stuck with me: Should people wait on war developments to book their flights?
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
I liked how she stayed with me in a booth instead of having to go wait on other people.
From "Fish in a Tree" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
