| 释义 |
waiter|ˈweɪtə(r)|
Forms: 4 weyter, 4–5 waytar, 4–7 wayter, 5 waytere, 5–7 waitor, waytor, 6 waighter, waitour, water, weighter, (Sc. vyttar), 6– waiter.
[Orig. a. AF. *waitour, OF. weitteor, gaiteor, agent-n. f. weitier, gaitier wait v.1 In later use f. wait v.1 + -er1.]
I.
†1. One who watches, or observes closely; one who is on the look-out. Obs.
1382Wyclif 2 Sam. xiii. 34 And the child weyter [Vulg. puer speculator] heuede vp his eyen and bihelde. c1420Wyclif Bible, Pref. Epist. St. Jerome 70 Sophonyas the wayter [L. speculator] and the knower of the priuetees of the Lord, herith a cry. 1549Coverdale etc. Erasm. Par. 1 John i. 1–4 Euen the thing which we yt were continual waitours heard with our eares, saw with our eies. 1554Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 281 That the saidis baillies suld..apprehend the said John Chalmer, and put him in custodie..with vyttaris and vaychearis to awyt and keip him fra doing of skayth. 1672Swinnock Life T. Wilson 21 Accordingly, he thus clad came forth, not knowing but that the Waiter was still at the door. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 285 The Health⁓boat came, and put Waiters on board of us, to keep the People of the Town from mingling with us.
2.
†a. A watchman at the city gates. Sc. Obs.
1684in G. Sinclair Satan's Invis. World (1685) Postscr. ⁋1 b, He had..some charge over the Waiters at the Ports of the City [Edinburgh]. 1737in Crim. Trials illustr. ‘Heart of Mid-Lothian’ (1818) 294 William Lindsay, waiter at the Netherbow port of Edinburgh..deponed, That [etc.]. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. vi, During this parley the insurgents had made themselves masters of the West Port, rushing upon the Waiters (so the people were called who had the charge of the gates), and possessing themselves of the keys.
b. A warder of the Tower of London. More fully yeoman waiter.
1551T. Wilson Logic N viij b, Yeomen of the gard, and all other waiters. 1592in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 6/2 [Ralph Smythe] one of your highness ordinary yeomen waiters. c1600in Peck Desid. Curiosa (1732) I. ii. 16 The Towre..Yeoman Waighters or Warders.
†c. An officer in the employ of the Customs. Obs. exc. Hist. See coast-waiter, tide-waiter.
1473Stonor Papers (Camden) I. 134 For þer be so many wayters and controllers. 1556Acts Privy Counc. (1892) V. 295 They have, nevertheles of late byn troubled and disquieted by diverse Wayters at the portes in London. 1561Clough in Burgon Life Gresham (1839) I. 407 So many Quays crowne-serchers, wayters, and other powlyng offycers. 1612Proclam. Transport. Corn 19 Jan., All our Customers, Comptrollers, Searchers, Waitors, and other the Ministers of our Ports. 1685Sc. Proclam. 28 Apr. in Lond. Gaz. No. 2032/3 We hereby Require and Command all Our Collectors, Customers, or Waiters, to make strict and diligent Search and Inquiry in all Ships. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xvi, Some tuilzies about run goods wi' the gaugers and the waiters.
†3. An observer in secret.
a. A spy, scout. Obs.
1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 133 Diuerse espies and waytars that were sent out..to see and to descouuere the state..of their enemyes.
†b. In Hunting, one set to watch the movements of the intended game. Obs. rare.
c1400Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxiii, Þei shulde goo forthe þider as þe deere is herbowred and sette redy wayters aboute þe quarter, or þe wode þat þe deer is Inne to se what commeth oute.
†c. One who lies in wait. Obs. rare.
c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. xii. (1869) 79 An espyour of weyes, and a waytere [agueteur] of pilgrimes.
II.
4. a. One who waits expectant of some event, opportunity, appointed time, etc.
1655R. Capel Tentations iv. iii. (ed. 5) 124 The expectation of the waiter shall not fail for ever, that is, never. 1870R. Buchanan Bk. Orm ii. ii. 50 O Shadow sad, Monitor, haunter, waiter till the end. 1900F. G. Kenyon in Egypt Explor. Fund, Archaeol. Rep. 45 Students of papyri will indeed be expectant waiters for gifts from their rich table for a long time to come.
b. waiter upon God (see wait v.1 14 h). † waiter upon time (obs.), waiter upon Providence, one who awaits the turn of events when required by duty or honour to come to a personal decision; a temporizer.
1592Bacon Observ. Libel Resusc. (1657) 132 The Spaniards are great Waiters upon Time, and ground their Plots deep. 1836Marquis of Londonderry in Dk. Buckhm. Mem. Crts. Will. IV & Vict. (1861) II. 228 Such as are rats, and waiters upon Providence, who have now deserted us. 1907P. T. Forsyth Positive Preaching vii. 231 It is the waiters on God that renew their strength.
III. †5. a. One who waits in the presence of another (of superior rank); one who visits, or pays court to a superior.
1530Palsgr. 286/1 Wayter, qui baille attendance. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 41 b, Diogenes called Aristippus the kynges hownde, because he was a dayly waiter, and gaue contynuall attendaunce in the Courte of Dionysius. 1591Savile Tacitus, Agricola (1622) 200 Being admitted to the princes presence, and receiued with a short salutation and no speech, he sorted himselfe with the rest of the wayters [turbæ servientium inmixtus est]. 1611Bible Judith xiii. 1 Bagoas shut his tent without, and dismissed the waiters from the presence of his lord.
†b. waiter at the table: a parasite. Obs. rare.
1552Huloet, Wayter at the table as vncommaunded to y⊇ entent to get hys dynner, parasitaster.
†6. A man (more rarely, a woman) whose office or privilege it is to attend upon a superior.
†a. A regular member (often a person of high rank) of the retinue or household of a royal or noble personage. Obs.
14..15th Cent. Courtesy Bk. (1914) 14 Then shall be þer redy yemen of the chambre yef it be þer, yemen waytors yef it be in þe hall, to take away stolis and bordes and trestelles. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 12 The kyng & his thre felowes entred into the felde their bardes and bases of Crimosyn and blew Veluet..and all the wayters in sylke of the same colour. a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 45 Whan he came to the gallerye's end, he satt hyme down uppon a forme that stode there for the wayters some tyme to take ther ease. 1594R. Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 228 The sixt thing which honoureth a man, is the seemely ornament of his person, and his going well apparelled, and attended with manie waiters. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 142 They which were wont to be called Pantlers, Tasters and Carvers, are now called Gentlemen Wayters of the Court. 1678–9Dryden & Lee Œdipus ii. i, Each trembling Ghost shall rise, And leave their grizly King without a waiter.
b. An attendant upon the bride (or, more recently, the bride or groom) at weddings; a bridesmaid. Obs. exc. U.S. dial. or Hist.
1537in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, XII. i. 11, 3 goodly ladies in cloth of gold gorgeously decked following as waiters of the bride. c1680Roxb. Ballads (1891) VII. 458 Then come let us be, blithe, merry and free, Upon my life all the waiters are gone!.. The Bride-Maids that waited are gone. 1830in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 303 [She] says she hears you are to be married. She wishes to know..when..as you promised she would be one of the waiters. 1927Dialect Notes V. 470 Waiter,..an attendant of the bride or groom at a wedding. 1959Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 19 Mar. 14/1 Four young men and four young women were appointed to be ‘waiters’ on the bride and groom.
†c. = acolyte. nonce-use.
1563J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 275 Thei do reckon up, dore keepers, readers, conjurers, wayters [L. acolytos], subdeacons, deacons, and priestes, whiche all thei do call clerkes.
†d. One who out of courtesy waits at table on special occasions. (Cf. sense 7 c.) Obs.
1605Camden Rem., Wise Sp. 196 The Archebishop of Yorke saide vnto the yoong king..‘there is never a Prince in the world that hath this day such a waiter at his Table [viz. K. Henry II] as you have’. a1641Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 434 The waiters are all free men, who willingly proffer attendance at such feasts;..their waiters are clad in long loose garments to distinguish them from servants. a1714Parnell in Steele Poet. Misc. 65 Each sweet engaging Grace Put on some Cloaths to come abroad, And took a Waiters Place.
†e. waiter at the altar: (a) gen. (after 1 Cor. ix. 13), a priest or other minister of the altar; (b) one in minor orders (cf. 6 c).
1648Fanshawe Il Pastor Fido iv. iii. 137 The waiters at the altar [It. i ministri minori]. 1711G. Hickes Two Treat. Chr. Priesth. (1847) II. 70 Ministers about holy things, and waiters at God's altar.
7. A man (rarely a woman) of lower rank employed as a household servant.
†a. A servitor, groom, footman, etc. Obs.
a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 41 Dayly iiii other of these groomes, called wayters, to make fyres, to sett up tressyls and bourdes. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxxiii. i, Right as a waiters eye on a graceful master is holden. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Philaster ii. (1620) 24 What sawcy groome knocks at this dead of night, where be our waiters? 1655E. Terry Voy. East India xiii. 244 Death made many breaches into my Lord Ambassadors family, for of four and twenty wayters, besides his Secretary and my self, there was not above the fourth man returned home. 1788Massachusetts Spy 29 May 3/4 A considerable number of the respectable inhabitants of Princeton, consisting of 37 gunners and their waiters, spent the day past in hunting.
†b. A waiting-woman. Obs. rare.
1639Massinger Unnat. Combat i. i, Bid your wayters [two waiting-women] Stand farther of.
c. esp. A servant (in a private house) whose particular duty it is to wait upon those seated at table. Obs. (? exc. U.S.); cf. sense 8.
1528Roy Rede me (Arb.) 98 Then proll the servynge officers, With their yemen that be wayters, So that their levettis are but thynne. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. d 4 b, Butlers, carvers, yeomen of the cellar, wayters at the table. a1674Milton Hist. Mosc. v. Wks. 1851 VIII. 507 In dinner time he twice chang'd his Crown, his Waiters thrice thir Apparel. 1856Mrs. Stowe Dred xi, She was in the middle of the saloon again, just as the waiter announced dinner.
d. Mil. A soldier, etc., employed as a domestic servant to an officer. U.S. Obs.
1828A. Sherburne Mem. i. 20, I was waiter to Mr. Charles Roberts the boatswain. Ibid. ii. 26 Part of our officers with five or six waiters..occupied an elegant house. 1861Army Regulations 559 Non-commissioned officers not employed as waiters.
8. A man employed, at inns, hotels, eating-houses, or similar places, to wait upon the guests (esp. during meals). Also a man hired for a similar purpose on special occasions to supplement the staff of a private household.
This sense probably arose in England about the middle of the 17th c., and superseded the older term drawer. From the 18th c. onwards it appears to have been the most usual sense of the word.
a1663Killigrew Parson's Wedd. iii. v. (1664) 120 Drawer... The sum is six pounds, and be pleased to remember the Waiters. 1712Steele Spect. No. 508 ⁋3 We change our Taverns according as he suspects any Treasonable Practices in the settling the Bill by the Master, or sees any bold Rebellion in point of Attendance by the Waiters. 1779Mirror No. 26 But there is another set of persons still more exposed to be treated roughly than even domestic servants, and these are, the waiters at inns and taverns. 1818Hazlitt Table-t., Knowl. Charact. (1822) II. 351 After a familiar conversation with a waiter at a tavern. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxxv, The White Hart hotel..where the waiters, from their costume, might be mistaken for Westminster boys. 1874Ruskin Fors Clav. xlviii. IV. 271 Presently afterwards, an evidently German-importation of waiter brings me up my breakfast.
9. A uniformed attendant on the floor of the Stock Exchange, Lloyd's of London, or other City of London institution.
1887[see hammer v. 2 d]. 1904C. Duguid Stock Exchange ii. 12 We have also noticed the Waiters' Stands, about twenty in number, placed in various parts of the House, pulpit-like..so that the important announcements which emanate from these stands may be well heard in the House. 1934F. E. Armstrong Bk. Stock Exchange xvii. 356 It is known that dealers used to foregather in the coffee houses of Change Alley, Cornhill... Here, probably, it was that ‘waiters’, plying their trade, and seeking out from the interior fastnesses of these refreshment rooms some particular Stock-jobber wanted by his client, gave the name to the uniformed ‘waiter’ who calls the Members within the walls of the present Stock Exchange. 1962A. Sampson Anat. of Britain xxiii. 380 Merchant bankers work in a formal atmosphere... Mahogany, black-coated waiters and grandfather clocks set the tone of privacy. Ibid. xxv. 400 The Room [at Lloyd's]... When a broker is wanted, one of the ‘waiters’ (who stand round the room in scarlet uniform) writes his name on a special instrument. 1976Times 22 Apr. (Baltic Exchange Suppl.) p. i/9 As in other City institutions, attendants wear livery and are called waiters.
IV. A contrivance to supply the place of a waiter or facilitate waiting.
†10. = dumb-waiter 2.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1474 In lofty Inns, we have often thought that it might be desirable to have an ascending and descending platform, on the principle of the ascending and descending cupboards or waiters. 1861Our Engl. Home 184 Loriot invented, for the salons of Choisy, tables called waiters, which, on touching a spring, sank through the floor, to reappear laden for a repast.
11. A salver, small tray (cf. waiting-board, -salver).
1738Will of Frances, Lady Colepeper, I give unto my said niece..my dumb waiter and the rest of my waiters. 1778F. Burney Evelina (1791) II. 205 Just then the servant brought Lady Louisa a note upon a waiter. 1802Mrs. Sherwood Susan Gray 90 She placed a waiter in my hand, and ordered me to carry the tea to the Captain. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xvii, A heterogeneous litter of pastrycook's trays, lamps, waiters full of glasses, and piles of rout seats. 1886G. Allen Maimie's Sake xxxviii, Hetty took the..missive..from the old massive silver waiter.
†12. (See quot.) Obs. rare.
1779Ingenhousz Electricity in Phil. Trans. LXIX. 662, I began first by making use of one of those glass stands, which they call a waiter, and which has a glass support fixed at right angles to its center.
V.
13. Chess. = waiting problem s.v. waiting vbl. n.1 2 c.
1906A. C. White Tours de Force p. xxxii, If a problem has no threat, it is called a ‘waiter’, and all the different continuations are variations. 1935Encycl. Sports 150/1 There is no simple waiting move for white. The key is, indeed, a ‘waiter’, but four of the resulting mates are different from those in the set position. 1963M. Lipton et al. Chess Problems iv. 72 White can neither retain all the set mates as in a Waiter, nor change some of them while still maintaining zugzwang as in a mutate.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈwaiterage, the performance of a waiter's duties. ˈwaiterdom, waiters considered as a class. ˈwaiterhood, the state or condition of a waiter. ˈwaitering, the occupation of a waiter.
1849Carlyle Remin. Irish Journ. (1882) 38 All was done for me then that human waiterage in the circumstances could do. 1860All Year Round IV. 79 Enter the dusty travellers;..round whom dance expectant gnats and midges in the shape of fluttering waiterdom. 1862Dickens Somebody's Luggage i, What is the inference to be drawn respecting true Waitering? You must be bred to it. 1865― Mut. Fr. iv. iv, An innocent young waiter..as yet unversed in the wiles of waiterhood. 1866Lond. Rev. 7 Apr. 388/1 Waitering admits of variation, and can be accommodated to circumstances. |