Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WAIN'SCOT, v.t.

1. To line with boards; as, to wainscot a hall. Music sounds better in chambers wainscoted than hanged. – Bacon.
2. To line with different materials. The other is wainscoted with looking-glass. – Addison.

WAIN'SCOT-ED, pp.

Lined with boards or panels.

WAIN'SCOT-ING, ppr.

Lining with boards.

WAIR, n.

A piece of timber two yards long, and a foot broad. [I know not where used.] Bailey.

WAIST, n. [W. gwâsg, pressure, squeeze, the waist, the part where the girdle is tied; allied to squeeze.]

1. That part of the human body which is immediately below the ribs or thorax; or the small part of the body between the thorax and hips.
2. That part of a ship which is between the quarter deck and forecastle. But in many ships now built, there is no quarter deck, and in such the waist is the middle part of the ship.

WAIST'BAND, n.

The band or upper part of breeches, trowsers, or pantaloons, which encompasses the waist.

WAIST-CLOTHS, n.

Coverings of canvas or tarpaulin for the hammocs, stowed on the gangway; between the Quarter deck and the forecastle. – Mar. Dict.

WAIST-COAT, n. [waist and coat.]

A short coat or garment for men, extending no lower than the hips, and covering the waist; a vest. This under garment is now generally called in America a vest.

WAIST'ER, n.

In ships, waisters are men who are stationed in the waist in working the ship. – Mar. Dict.

WAIT, n.

Ambush. As a noun, this word is used only in certain phrases. To lie in wait, is to lie in ambush; to be secreted in order to fall by surprise on an enemy; hence figuratively, to lay snares, or to make insidious attempts, or to watch for the purpose of insnaring. – Josh. viii. In wait, is used in a like sense by Milton. To lay wait, to set an ambush. – Jer. ix.

WAIT, v.i. [Fr. guetter; It. guatare; W. gweitiaw, to wait; gwaid, attendance. The sense is to stop, or to continue.]

1. To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary, till the arrival of some person or event. Thus we say, I went to the place of meeting, and there waited an hour for the moderator or chairman. I will go to the hotel, and there wait till you come. We will wait for the mail.
2. To stay proceedings, or suspend any business, in expectation of some person, event, or the arrival of some hour. The court was obliged to wait for a witness.
3. To rest in expectation and patience. All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. – Job xiv.
4. To stay; not to depart. Haste, my dear father, 'tis no time to wait. – Dryden.
5. To stay; to continue by reason of hinderance.
6. To lie in ambush, as an enemy. Such ambush waited to intercept thy way. – Milton. To wait on or upon, to attend, as a servant; to perform menial services for; as, to wait on a gentleman; to wait on the table. To wait on, to attend; to go to see; to visit on business or for ceremony. Tell the gentleman I will wait on him at ten o'clock. #2. To pay servile or submissive attendance. #3. To follow, as a consequence; as, the ruin that waits on such a supine temper. [Instead of this we use await.] #4. To look watchfully. It is a point of cunning to wait on him with whom you speak, with your eye. [Unusual.] – Bacon. #5. To attend to; to perform. Aaron and his sons shall wait on their priest's office. – Numb. iii. viii. Rom. xii. #6. To be ready to serve; to obey. – Ps. xxv. Prov. xx. To wait at, to attend in service; to perform service at. – 1 Cor. ix. To wait for, to watch, as an enemy. – Job. xv.

WAIT, v.t.

1. To stay for; to rest or remain stationary in expectation of the arrival of. Aw'd with these words, in camps they still abide, / And wait with longing eyes their promis'd guide. – Dryden. [Elliptical for wait for.]
2. To attend; to accompany with submission or respect. He chose a thousand horse, the flow'r of all / His warlike troops, to wait the funeral. – Dryden. [This use is not justifiable, but by poetical license.]
3. To attend as a consequence of something. Such doom waits luxury. – Philips. [Not in use. In this sense we use attend or attend on.]

WAIT'ED, pp.

Stayed for; attended.

WAIT'ER, n.

1. One who waits; an attendant; a servant in attendance. The waiters stand in ranks; the yeomen cry, / Make room, as if a duke were passing by. – Swift.
2. A server or salver; a vessel on which tea furniture, &c. is carried.

WAIT'ING, ppr.

Staying in expectation. Waiting on, attending; accompanying; serving. Waiting for, staying for the arrival of. Waiting at, staying or attending at in expectation or in service. In waiting, in attendance.

WAIT'ING-LY, adv.

By waiting.

WAIT'ING-MAID, or WAIT'ING-WOMAN, n.

An upper servant who attends a lady. [Waiting-gentlewoman is sometimes, though less commonly used.]

WAITS, n. [Goth. wahts, watch.]

1. Itinerant nocturnal musicians. [Not in use.] – Beaum.
2. Nocturnal musicians who attended great men. – Cyc.

WAIVE, n.

A woman put out of the protection of the law. – Cyc.

WAIVE, v.t. [from waif.]

To relinquish, not to insist on or claim. [See Wave.]

WAIV'ED, pp.

Relinquished, as a claim.

WAIV'ING, ppr.

Relinquishing, as a claim.

WAI'WODE, n.

In the Turkish empire, the governor of a small province or town; a general. – Cyc.

WAKE, n.

1. The feast of the dedication of the church, formerly kept by watching all night. – Dryden. King.
2. Vigils; state of forbearing sleep. Their merry wakes and pastimes keep. – Milton.
3. Act of waking. [Old song.] Wake of a ship, the track it leaves in the water, formed by the meeting of the water, which rushes from each side to fill the space which the ship makes in passing through it. To be in the wake of a ship, is to be in her track or in a line with her keel.

WAKE, v.i. [Goth. wakan; Sax. wæcan; G. wachen; D. waaken, wekken; Sw. väcka, up-väcka; Dan. vækker; L. vigil, vigilo. The root wak is allied to wag. The primary sense is to stir, to rouse, to excite. The transitive verb in Saxon, is written wæcan, wecan; but both are from one root.]

1. To be awake; to continue awake; to watch; not to sleep. – Ps. cxxvii. The father waketh for the daughter. – Ecclus. Though wisdom wakes, suspicion sleeps. – Milton. I can not think any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it. – Locke.
2. To be excited or roused from sleep; to awake; to be awakened. He wakes at the slightest noise.
3. To cease to sleep; to awake.
4. To be quick; to be alive or active. – Dryden.
5. To be excited from a torpid state; to be put in motion. The dormant powers of nature wake from their frosty slumbers. Gentle airs to fan the earth now wak'd. – Milton.