wait up
to delay going to bed in order to await some event
informal, mainly US and Canadian to halt and pause in order that another person may catch up
Words Nearby wait up
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use wait up in a sentence
His supporters hosted a men-only fundraiser with this admonition on the invitation: “Tell the misses not to wait up.”
The Republican War on Women Continues, Just More Quietly | Eleanor Clift | October 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTDon't you worry about nothing; give her a latchkey, and don't wait up.
Jimmy Quixote | Tom GallonThe old one was to lock the door behind us, and wait up with my mother.
My Little Sister | Elizabeth RobinsYou and I will wait up there in the hills on the off-chance of picking up some news.
The Half-Hearted | John BuchanI believe Terence Murphy used to wait up till the small hours, lest by chance his master should come unannounced.
The Story of Bawn | Katharine Tynan
I made up my mind that when I was a man I would wait up till calf or child had come.
Reveries over Childhood and Youth | William Butler Yeats
Other Idioms and Phrases with wait up
Postpone going to bed in anticipation of someone or something, as in My parents always wait up until I get home, no matter how late it is. [Mid-1800s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse