| 释义 |
▪ I. waiting, vbl. n.1|ˈweɪtɪŋ|
[-ing1.]
1. The action of wait v.1 in various senses.
†a. A lying in wait, ambush. Also waiting for. Also fig. Obs.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 193 Shrudeð eow mid godes wapne, and werieð eow wið defles waitinge. 1340Ayenb. 15 Zuo heþ þe dyeuel diverse maneres of waytinges. c1440Promp. Parv. 513/2 Waytynge to don harme, insidie. 1526Tindale Acts xii. 11 The lorde hath..delyvered me..from all the waytynge fore of the people of the iewes.
†b. Watching, observation. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 89 Lecherye..As in werkes and in wordes and waitynges with eies. c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 4560 But he perceiued hir noo thing From the toure of hir wayting. 1526Tindale Luke xvii. 20 The kyngdom of God commeth not with waytingefore.
c. Expectation; remaining stationary or quiescent in expectation of something. in waiting (predicatively): in a state of expectancy, remaining in one place or condition so as to be ready for some expected event: = waiting pres. pple.
1743T. Jones in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 402 After 24 hours' waiting, the troops were obliged to retire. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 142 While the coach was in waiting, and they all stood on the hill. 1818Byron Let. to Murray 17 July, I am still in waiting for Hanson's clerk, but luckily not at Geneva. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xxiii, I thought..I would ask Richard to be in waiting for me at the coach-office, that we might have a little talk together. 1885Payn Talk of Town II. 147 A closed carriage, well appointed, was at the door, in waiting for her, and they took their seats. 1889Bridges Growth Love lxiii, I abide and abide, as if more stout and tall My spirit would grow by waiting like a tree.
d. Attendance upon a superior.
c1560A. Scott Poems 79 xxvi. 61 Thay wald haif wating on alway, But gwerdoun, genȝeild, or regaird. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. I. 102 Camillus had the name of Hermes from the similarity of his office, which was waiting upon the Gods.
e. Official attendance at court; one's period or term of such attendance. in waiting: on duty, in attendance (said e.g. of a maid of honour, a lord- or lady-in-waiting, a court official).
For groom-in-waiting, lady-in-waiting, lord-in-waiting, see the first element.
1697J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789) 24 When the Princess asked him, who taught him so? he said, Lewis; then, said her Highness, Lewis shall be turned out of waiting. 1705Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 620 The dutchesse of St. Albans being made one of the ladies of the bedchamber to the queen..begun her first waiting on Monday. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. iii, His Majesty sent for three great scholars, who were then in their weekly waiting, according to the custom in that country. 1730R. Gale in Mem. W. Stukeley (Surtees) I. 235 Lady Pembroke is in waiting at Windsor. 1765Earl Coventry in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) I. 402 The letter I had from Lord March..offering to take my waiting the first of next month, in exchange of his own, which is not till the 29th. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 433 The prelates who were in waiting had from the first exhorted him to prepare for his end. 1912Mrs. H. Wyndham Corr. Sarah Lady Lyttelton xi. 285 This is the last letter of interest during Lady Lyttelton's first waiting.
2. attrib.
a. Consisting of, or characterized by, waiting (in various senses of the verb wait). Sometimes hyphened to the n. qualified.
1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 25 [They] distribute their wayting dayes after this order. 1740tr. De Mouhy's Fort. Country Maid (1741) II. 366, I had hired a Waiting Jobb, by the month. 1903Times 6 May 14/3 Consumers..contend..that a waiting policy may bring some relaxation in values. 1912Ibid. 19 Oct. 5/2 Rumania will..order the mobilization of these Army Corps, abandoning her waiting attitude.
b. Intended to be used or occupied while waiting, as waiting-chamber, waiting-lobby; also waiting-room.
a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 102 The first *waytyng chamber was hanged with fynne arras. 1912Bodley Card. Manning 19 For Newman the Oriel Common-room was a home. For Manning the Merton Common-room was an unfamiliar waiting-chamber on the road to a profession.
1837Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 7/1 By suspending them in the *waiting-lobbies, the impatient moments of parties might be close occupied.
c. Special comb.: † waiting board, salver, a tray intended to be carried by one waiting at table; waiting game, used to describe the tactics of a player who abstains from attempting to secure advantages in the earlier part of the game, with a view to more effective action at a later stage; also fig.; waiting list, a list of people waiting for appointments, selection for any purpose, or the next chance of obtaining something; waiting (move) problem Chess (see quots.); waiting race, a race in which the superiority of the winner is designedly not displayed till near the end of the course; also fig.; † waiting Sunday, ? a Sunday on which the town-council publicly attended the mayor to church; waiting time, time spent waiting, spec. in Computing (see quot. 1962) or Work Study (see quot. 1979).
1770Lady M. Coke Jrnl. 19 June (1892) III. 247, I bought tea, fans, japan *waiting board, walking sticks, &c.
1890Times 27 Dec. 9/1 The best policy seems to dictate a *waiting game. 1914Eng. Hist. Rev. Apr. 256 The precarious health of Elizabeth..made it desirable to play a waiting game in the east and to shower blows on Bohemia and Moravia.
1897Outing XXX. 347/2 The Michaux Club is composed of two hundred members, with a large ‘*waiting list’. 1916A. Huxley Let. 5 Feb. (1969) 90 There is a huge waiting list for the better jobs on all the Govt. Depts. 1921Tax Clerks' Jrnl. IV. 387 The right to a place on the ‘waiting list’ for a permanent post. 1976Times 23 Feb. 13/1 Local councils were able to do little to reduce over⁓long waiting lists.
1891J. Rayner Chess Problems 9 *Waiting-move problems—i.e., those in which the first move would not lead to a mate if it were not that Black is forced to reply and thereby weaken his position. 1896Chess Monthly May 280 There is another class of waiting problem which is usually found very interesting... A primary position which has every indication that White has but to linger without discouraging the mates as ‘set’, but..one of the mates has to be given up in exchange for another to be created. 1907S. S. Blackburne Chess Problems 25 Block problem—Otherwise called a ‘Waiting Problem’ is one in which White's first move leads to mate after every reply of Black, in consequence of such reply. 1962K. S. Howard One Hundred Years Amer. Two-Move Chess Problem 5 Another type [of problem]..was the complete block, or waiting-move problem, especially where some of the mating moves apparently set in the initial position were changed by the key, for which Brian Harley..coined the apt name mutate.
1868H. Woodruff Trotting Horse xxxvi. 297 Tallman made a *waiting-race of it, and pulled Flora back three lengths. 1883Mrs. E. Kennard Right Sort xx, Mrs. Forrester will ride a waiting race throughout. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay vi, You can do no good,—as they didn't find her within the first week it will just be a waiting race. 1886Earl Suffolk & Berksh. Racing xiv. (Badm. Libr.) 224 The style in which Buckle..particularly shone was in riding a waiting race... ‘None of your lying off and winning in the last stride for me’, would the owner of Euclid exclaim.
1714Lond. Gaz. No. 5286/4 Two *waiting Salvors.
1767in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 197 The future dress..for the Aldermen..to be by them worn only on the *Waiting Sundays and other public state days.
1962Gloss Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 85 *Waiting time, of a store. The time interval between the instant the control unit calls for a transfer of data to or from the store and the instant the transfer commences. 1976P. R. White Planning for Public Transport v. 115 Waiting time is a function of service frequency and thus is not affected directly by spacing. 1979Gloss. Terms Work Study (B.S.I.) 16 Waiting time, the period of time for which an operator is available for production but is prevented from working.
▪ II. † ˈwaiting, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[Prob. a. ON. veiting (not recorded in this sense, but cf. mod.Icel. veitingar pl., entertainment, veitinga-hús restaurant), f. veita to give a feast (a special use of veita wait v.2).]
Entertainment, feasting.
a1300Cursor M. 3344 Ilk man gaue he [sc. Abraham's servant, Gen. xxiv. 53] sumkin thing, And batuel made fair waiting [Gött. gestning]. Ibid. 12544 Ai quen iosep was wont at weind, Til ani waiting wit sum frend, His suns war ai wit him bun.
▪ III. waiting, ppl. a.|ˈweɪtɪŋ|
[wait v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That waits upon, or attends to, another; that acts as an attendant, or waiter. Often hyphened to the qualified n. as in waiting-gentlewoman, waiting-lady, waiting-maid, -man, -woman, etc.
1538N. Country Wills (Surtees) 159 To every one of my wayting servauntes vj s. viij d. the pece. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, ii. i. 121 When your Carters, or your wayting Vassalls Haue done a drunken Slaughter. 1599― Much Ado ii. ii. 14, I thinke I told your Lordship..how much I am in the fauour of Margaret, the waiting gentlewoman to Hero. 1598Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ii, If one should sewe For Lesbias loue, hauing two daies to wooe..and should imploy those twaine The favour of her wayting-wench to gaine, Were he not mad? 1620tr. Boccaccio's Decam. ii. vi. I. 47 This Gentleman..one especiall day.., with his wife, seruants, and waiting hounds [It. merely con suoi cani], wandred vp into the Iland. 1713Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) IV. 76 Her little waiting Dogg was got under her Clothes. 1749Fielding Tom Jones x. ix, Certain pecuniary civilities, which are by custom due to the waiting-gentlewoman in all love-affairs. 1829Scott Anne of G. xxi, That dressing my mistress is the only part of a waiting-lady's life that I have the least fancy for. 1861Meredith Poems, Patriot Engin. 35 Why, there's the ale-house bench:..And there's my waiting-wench, As lissome as a hound. 1864Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 268 It would, after all, have perhaps been more difficult to find waiting-boys who could speak English.
2. That waits for some person or thing; expectant; remaining stationary, or deferring action, expectantly.
1654Clarke Papers (Camden) III. 12 The present effect is startling to all nacions round about, all in a waiteing frame where this cloud will light. 1703Rowe Fair Penit. i. i, Thy waiting Bride ev'n chides thee for delaying. 1720Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 24 As little bairns frae winnocks high Drap down saip-bells to waiting fry. 1896Harper's Mag. Apr. 671/2 All noise and movement gradually ceased, and a waiting stillness followed which was solemn and impressive.
Hence ˈwaitingly adv.
1882C. E. Turner in Macm. Mag. Apr. 478/1 [She] lived waitingly and hopefully ‘on the eve’ of an active career. 1894Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet 26 The Marrow minister..looked waitingly at the young man. |