? Obs. Also 4 awaitour, 4–6 awayter. [a. AF. *awaitour (= OF. aguaiteor, aguetteur), f. awaitier: see AWAIT v. and -ER1.]
† 1. One who lies in wait. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., IV. iii. 121. Yif he be a preue awaitour.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Luke xx. 20. The subtile awaiters to haue taken him in a trippe.
† 2. An attendant. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxx. (1495), 721. A vynyerde is lefte in wynter wythout keper or awayter.
1543. Grafton, Contn. Harding, 595. The kynges awayters were in coates of whyte and grene.
3. One who awaits or waits for.
