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.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Sam. xiii. 34. And the child weyter [Vulg. puer speculator] heuede vp his eyen and bihelde.
c. 1420. Wyclif Bible, Pref. Epist. St. Jerome, 70. Sophonyas the wayter [L. speculator] and the knower of the priuetees of the Lord, herith a cry.
1549. Coverdale, 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.
1554. Aberdeen 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.
1672. Swinnock, Life T. Wilson, 21. Accordingly, he thus clad came forth, not knowing but that the Waiter was still at the door.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. 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.
1684. in G. Sinclair, Satan’s Invis. World (1685), Postscr. ¶ 1 b. He had … some charge over the Waiters at the Ports of the City [Edinburgh].
1737. in Crim. Trials illustr. ‘Heart of Mid-Lothian’ (1818), 294. William Lindsay, waiter at the Netherbow port of Edinburgh … deponed, That [etc.].
1818. Scott, 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.
1551. T. Wilson, Logic, N viij b. Yeomen of the gard, and all other waiters.
1592. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., 6/2. [Ralph Smythe] one of your highness ordinary yeomen waiters.
c. 1600. in 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.
1473. Stonor Papers (Camden), I. 134. For þer be so many wayters and controllers.
1556. Acts Privy Counc. (1892), V. 295. They have, nevertheles of late byn troubled and disquieted by diverse Wayters at the portes in London.
1561. Clough, in Burgon, Life Gresham (1839), I. 407. So many Quays crowne-serchers, wayters, and other powlyng offycers.
1612. Proclam. Transport. Corn, 19 Jan. All our Customers, Comptrollers, Searchers, Waitors, and other the Ministers of our Ports.
1685. Sc. Proclam., 28 April, 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.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvi. Some tuilzies about run goods wi’ the gaugers and the waiters.
† 3. An observer in secret. a. A spy, scout. Obs.
1471. Caxton, 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.
c. 1400. Master 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.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. xii. (1869), 79. An espyour of weyes, and a waytere [agueteur] of pilgrimes.
II. 4. One who waits expectant of some event, opportunity, appointed time, etc.
1655. R. Capel, Tentations, IV. iii. (ed. 5), 124. The expectation of the waiter shall not fail for ever, that is, never.
1870. R. Buchanan, Bk. Orm, II. ii. 50. O Shadow sad, Monitor, haunter, waiter till the end.
1900. F. 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 honor to come to a personal decision; a temporizer.
1592. Bacon, Observ. Libel, Resusc. (1657), 132. The Spaniards are great Waiters upon Time, and ground their Plots deep.
1836. Marq. 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.
1907. P. T. Forsyth, Positive Preaching, vii. 231. It is the waiters on God that renew their strength.
III. † 5. One who waits in the presence of another (of superior rank); one who visits, or pays court to a superior.
1530. Palsgr., 286/1. Wayter, qui baille attendance.
1542. Udall, 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.
1591. Savile, 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].
1611. Bible, 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.
1552. Huloet, Wayter at the table as vncommaunded to ye 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.
a. 1548. Hall, 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.
a. 1562. G. 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.
1594. R. 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.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 142. They which were wont to be called Pantlers, Tasters and Carvers, are now called Gentlemen Wayters of the Court.
1678–9. Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, II. i. Each trembling Ghost shall rise, And leave their grizly King without a waiter.
† b. An attendant upon the bride at weddings; a bridesmaid. Obs.
1537. in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII., XII. I. 11. 3 goodly ladies in cloth of gold gorgeously decked following as waiters of the bride.
c. 1680. Roxb. 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.
† c. = ACOLYTE. nonce-use.
1563. Man, Musculus’ Commonpl., 275. Thei do reckon up, dore keepers, readers, conjurers, wayters [L. acolytos], sub-deacons, 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.
1605. Camden, 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.’
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, 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.
a. 1714. Parnell, 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).
1648. Fanshawe, Il Pastor Fido, IV. iii. 137. The waiters at the altar [It. i ministri minori].
1711. G. 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.
a. 1483. Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 41. Dayly iiii other of these groomes, called wayters, to make fyres, to sett up tressyls and bourdes.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXXIII. i. Right as a waiters eye on a graceful master is holden.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, II. (1620), 24. What sawcy groome knocks at this dead of night, where be our waiters?
1655. E. 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.
1788. Massachusetts 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.
1639. Massinger, 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 iable. Obs. (? exc. U.S.); cf. sense 8.
1528. Roy, Rede me (Arb.), 98. Then proll the servynge officers, With their yemen that be wayters, so that their levettis are but thynne.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., d 4 b. Butlers, carvers, yeomen of the cellar, wayters at the table.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Moscovia, v. Wks. 1851, VIII. 507. In dinner time he twice chang’d his Crown, his Waiters thrice thir Apparel.
1856. Mrs. Stowe, Dred, xi. She was in the middle of the saloon again, just as the waiter announced dinner.
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.
a. 1663. Killigrew, Parson’s Wedd., III. v. (1664), 120. Drawer.… The sum is six pounds, and be pleased to remember the Waiters.
1712. Steele, 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.
1779. Mirror, 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.
1818. Hazlitt, Table-t., Knowl. Charact. (1822), II. 351. After a familiar conversation with a waiter at a tavern.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxv. The White Hart hotel … where the waiters, from their costume, might be mistaken for Westminster boys.
1874. Ruskin, Fors Clav., xlviii. IV. 271. Presently afterwards, an evidently German-importation of waiter brings me up my breakfast.
IV. A contrivance to supply the place of a waiter or facilitate waiting.
† 9. = DUMB-WAITER 2.
1833. Loudon, 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.
1861. Our Engl. Home, 184–5. 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.
10. A salver, small tray (cf. waiting-board, -salver).
1738. Will of Frances, Lady Colepeper. I give unto my said niece … my dumb waiter and the rest of my waiters.
1778. Miss Burney, Evelina (1791), II. 205. Just then the servant brought Lady Louisa a note upon a waiter.
1802. Mrs. Sherwood, Susan Gray, 90. She placed a waiter in my hand, and ordered me to carry the tea to the Captain.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, xvii. A heterogeneous litter of pastrycook’s trays, lamps, waiters full of glasses, and piles of rout seats.
1886. G. Allen, Maimie’s Sake, xxxviii. Hetty took the … missive … from the old massive silver waiter.
† 11. (See quot.) Obs. rare.
1779. Ingenhousz, 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.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Waiterage, the performance of a waiter’s duties. Waiterdom, waiters considered as a class. Waiterhood, the state or condition of a waiter. Waitering, the occupation of a waiter.
1849. Carlyle, Remin. Irish Journ. (1882), 38. All was done for me then that human waiterage in the circumstances could do.
1860. All Year Round, IV. 79. Enter the dusty travellers;… round whom dance expectant gnats and midges in the shape of fluttering waiterdom.
1862. Dickens, Somebody’s Luggage, i. What is the inference to be drawn respecting true Waitering? You must be bred to it. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., IV. iv. An innocent young waiter … as yet unversed in the wiles of waiterhood.
1866. Lond. Rev., 7 April, 388/1. Waitering admits of variation, and can be accommodated to circumstances.
