wait on

British  

verb

1. to serve at the table of

2. to act as an attendant or servant to

3. archaic to visit

---

interjection

1. stop! hold on!

wait on Idioms  

1. 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]

2. Make a formal call on, as in They waited on the ambassador . [c. 1500]

3. 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

On the streets of Beirut, the displaced continued to wait on Friday to see if the bombing would increase.

From BBC

The kingfisher waits on the branch until we’ve all thrown our sticks into the river.

From Literature

“She will wait on the chance that we miss Da.”

From Literature

Retroactively changing the rules midtrial or later, she argues, creates instability not just for pharma, but for the patients waiting on these treatments.

From The Wall Street Journal

For several seconds, a silence settled over the people waiting on the depot platform.

From Literature