Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb colloquial To wait for an event.
  • verb To wait for a person to do something.
  • verb To serve someone.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb work for or be a servant to

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • ABC's Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer use the phrase "wait on" when they mean to say "wait for". I actually hear this incorrect usage quite often and it irritates me.

    February 23, 2010

  • Drives me batshit. I also don't like "wait on line." To me it's wait IN line.

    February 23, 2010

  • I've heard that "wait on line" is standard New York City dialect. Can anyone confirm or disconfirm?

    February 23, 2010

  • Really? These New Yorkers are selling me the wrong stuff?!

    February 23, 2010

  • Caution, grammar Nazis at work.

    February 23, 2010

  • Ptero, I'm pretty sure you're right, but in other parts far, far removed from New York City (say, Philadelphia), it's "wait in line."

    And no Nazis that I can see. ;-)

    February 23, 2010