wait on

British  

verb

1. to serve at the table of

2. to act as an attendant or servant to

3. archaic to visit

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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.

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Example Sentences

While Lee waited on word from the mine, she scoured the internet for jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal

Redknapp and Pauling as well as jockey Ben Jones spent a nervy few miniutes waiting on the photo finish before his number eight was called -- winning by just a nose.

From Barron's

It says it is doing better with recent loans and some of its metrics have improved in the past year while waiting on the old loans to be cleared out.

From The Wall Street Journal

The report’s conclusion relies on the average speed of answer, which includes callbacks so that callers are not actively waiting on the phone.

From MarketWatch

“I used to call them, but you can hardly ever get through unless you want to wait on the phone for 45 minutes to an hour.”

From MarketWatch