await

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English awaiten,^[2][3] borrowed from Old Northern French awaitier (“to lie in wait for, watch, observe”),^[4][3][5][1] corresponding to Old French agaitier or aguaitier.^[4][3][2][6] The Anglo-Norman verb, also spelled agaiter, is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, meaning to lie in wait, to keep watch and also to await.^[7] It is formed from a- (“to”), from Latin ad-,^[3][5][8] and waitier (“to watch”), modern French guetter,^[4][3] the source of wait.^[3][8][9] The OED and Skeat take waitier from Old High German wahtēn (“to watch”),^[4][9] and Etymonline from Frankish or another Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *waht-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To lie in wait for someone with hostile intent, to waylay: before 1250, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[4][2] Etymonline gives the mid-13th century and the sense "to wait for", noting that it was originally used especially of waiting to ambush or spy.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb covered many kinds of watching: lying in wait for someone (until 1671, in Milton), watching or observing (from about 1300), watching over or looking after (from 1393, in Langland) and waiting on someone as a servant (from 1393, in Gower).^[4][2] Hoad dates the sense "watch for" to the 13th century and "wait for" to the 14th.^[6] The OED compares the development of attend.^[4] All the senses of watching died out, and the Shorter Oxford marks the last of them, waiting on someone, as obsolete after the mid 18th century.^[10][4] The surviving sense, to wait for a coming person or event, was joined in the late 16th century by "to be in store for".^[10] Johnson (1755) defined it as to expect or wait for, and listed a noun await, ambush, from Spenser.^[11] That noun, from await, meant an ambush from about 1387 until 1867, and watchfulness or caution from Chaucer (about 1374) to 1531.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1250 – to lie in wait for, waylay (obsolete by 1671).^[4]
• c. 1300 – to look, take note.^[4]
• c. 1374 – noun, watchfulness, caution, in Chaucer.^[4]
• c. 1387 – noun, an ambush.^[4]
• 1393 – to wait on as a servant; to watch over.^[4]
• c. 1400 – to plot harm against someone.^[4]
• 14th century – to wait for.^[6]
• late 16th century – to be in store for.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wait for a person or event; to expect: We are awaiting the results of the vote.^[12][5][10]
2. To be in store for someone: A warm welcome awaits you.^[12][10]
3. To remain unused or undone until something happens: The bill awaits the president's signature.^[5]
4. To wait, especially with expectation.^[12]
5. (obsolete, 1250–1671) To lie in wait for; to ambush.^{[5][12][4][10]}

Noun

1. (obsolete) A lying in wait; an ambush.^[5][4][10]

Word family

• awaiter

Related words

• wait
• watch
• wake

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins