await

English

Etymology

From Middle English awaiten, from Old Northern French awaitier (“to lie in wait for, watch, observe”), originally especially with a hostile sense; itself from a- (“to”) + waitier (“to watch”). More at English wait.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈweɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Verb

await (third-person singular simple present awaits, present participle awaiting, simple past and past participle awaited)

1. (transitive, formal) To wait for.

   I await your reply to my letter.

   • 1674, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost:

     Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat, / Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night;

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.

2. (transitive) To expect.
3. (transitive) To be in store for; to be ready or in waiting for.

   Glorious rewards await the good in heaven; eternal suffering awaits mortal sinners in hell.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:

     Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the intersection of the two main streets, a "jog" at each street corner left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour was well occupied by carts and wagons from the country and empty drays awaiting hire.

   • 1674, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost:

     O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To serve or attend; to wait on, wait upon.
5. (intransitive) To watch, observe.
6. (intransitive) To wait; to stay in waiting.

Usage notes

• As await means to wait for, it is not followed by "for". *I am awaiting for your reply is therefore incorrect.

Synonyms

• (wait for): wait for, anticipate, listen (of a sound); See also Thesaurus:wait for
• (serve or attend): attend to, service; See also Thesaurus:serve

Translations

Noun

await (plural awaits)

1. (obsolete) A waiting for; ambush.
2. (obsolete) Watching, watchfulness, suspicious observation.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book VII, by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur , London: David Nutt, , 1889, →OCLC:

     Also, madame, syte you well that there be many men spekith of oure love in this courte, and have you and me gretely in awayte, as thes Sir Aggravayne and Sir Mordred.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     For all that night, the whyles the Prince did rest […] He watcht in close awayt with weapons prest […].

References

Anagrams

• Iwata