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

“I will not wait on events while dangers gather,” he declared to Congress, laying the groundwork for preemptive action.

From Salon • Apr. 8, 2026

“Copy, yeah, we prefer to wait on a gate, but I mean, again, we only got so much time here because there's still a bit of an odor in the back of the airplane.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

Lauren was told she would need an operation to remove the tumour, but the wait on the NHS would take four months.

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

He faced an agonizing 20-minute wait on the 18th fairway as Jacob Bridgeman, in the preceding group, played a shot from the beach that cracked off a cliff and back into the ocean.

From Barron's • Feb. 15, 2026

As we wait on my lawn—which is still brown, and will never be spray-painted green—Kelton turns to me and asks me a question.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman