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Wait on   /weɪt ɑn/   Listen
Wait on

verb
1.
Work for or be a servant to.  Synonyms: assist, attend, attend to, serve.  "She attends the old lady in the wheelchair" , "Can you wait on our table, please?" , "Is a salesperson assisting you?" , "The minister served the King for many years"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Wait on" Quotes from Famous Books



... [acting] She shall not wait on me, but I on her! Drawne by the influence of her lights, I yeeld. But let my friend, the Rhodian knight, come foorth,— Erasto, dearer then my life to me,— That he may see ...
— The Spanish Tragedie • Thomas Kyd

... Ah! I remember. Yes. In reference to the consideration which you are good enough to accept for giving me the benefit of your accomplishments in art, my steward will wait on you at the end of the first week, to ascertain your wishes. And—what next? Curious, is it not? I had a great deal more to say: and I appear to have quite forgotten it. Do you mind touching the bell? In that corner. ...
— The Woman in White • Wilkie Collins

... abstractedly; "but it's about as good as anything else to lie low and wait on." But here two customers entered, and he turned to them, leaving me in doubt whether to accept this as a verbal pleasantry or an admission. Only one thing seemed plain: I had certainly gained no information, and only added a darker mystery to his conference with Manners, which I determined ...
— Colonel Starbottle's Client and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... Now all this time, poor Jane, we know, Was made a laughing-stock and show. They told her, did she dare explain That she was only little Jane, And not a spotted girl at all, They'd beat her till she couldn't crawl. She had to wait on all the rest, And had to do her ...
— Plain Jane • G. M. George

... had said to him to their High Mightinesses, in order that it might be transmitted to the several members of the sovereignty of this country, for their deliberations and decisions.—I have not yet been honoured with an answer. I now do myself the honour to wait on you, Sir, to demand, as I do, a categorical answer, that I may be able to transmit it to the United ...
— A Collection of State-Papers, Relative to the First Acknowledgment of the Sovereignty of the United States of America • John Adams

... rest of them in a neat little room, has a man to wait on him, eats big bowls of Plougastel strawberries, takes his coffee and ...
— Over Strand and Field • Gustave Flaubert

... had frien's weel stockit in means, To leave me a hundred or twa, man; Nae weel-tocher'd aunts, to wait on their drants, And wish them in hell for ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... that some wrongs may continue indefinitely. Can it be that transient evil is lasting good? Are there more clamorous voices than those of physical need? Shall the less ravenous, yet infinitely more real, soul-hunger wait on alms and ambulance? ...
— Oswald Langdon - or, Pierre and Paul Lanier. A Romance of 1894-1898 • Carson Jay Lee

... "I 'lowed mebby you hadn't left yet. It 'll be a good half-hour 'fore they all get thar an' settled. The preacher promised me this mornin' he'd wait on me an' my folks. It takes my gals sech a' eternity to fix ...
— Westerfelt • Will N. Harben

... and we couldn't wait on him, so Harris said: "I will dismount, creep up behind him, and cut his hamstrings with my butcher-knife." The bull having now lain down, Harris commenced operations, but his movement seemed to infuse new life ...
— The Old Santa Fe Trail - The Story of a Great Highway • Henry Inman

... awaited the pair on entering the mud-floored room to find quite a decent meal awaiting them on the table, and their sour-looking heavy hostess ready to wait on them with ...
— A Dash from Diamond City • George Manville Fenn

... inhabited the old Place, and shown the castle and the pleasaunce to passing travellers, were, under the new order of affairs, promoted to the respective offices of serving-man and cook, or butler and housekeeper, as they styled themselves in the village. A maiden brought from Grandison to wait on Lady Armine completed the establishment, with her young brother, who, among numerous duties, performed the office of groom, and attended to a pair of beautiful white ponies which Sir Ratcliffe drove in a phaeton. This equipage, which was remarkable for its elegance, ...
— Henrietta Temple - A Love Story • Benjamin Disraeli

... kissed them, by which he gat to him the hearts of the people; and said to his father that he had avowed to make sacrifice to God in Hebron, and his father gave him leave. And when he was there he gathered people to him, and made himself king, and did do cry that all men should obey and wait on him as king of Israel. When David heard this he was sore abashed and was fain to flee out of Jerusalem. And Absalom came with his people and entered into Jerusalem into his father's house, and after pursued his father to depose him. And David ordained his people ...
— Bible Stories and Religious Classics • Philip P. Wells

... the Eastern pyramid was an idol... who had both eyes open, and was seated on a throne, having a sort of halberd near it, on which, if any one fixed his eye, he heard a fearful noise, which struck terror to his heart, and caused the death of the hearer. There was a spirit appointed to wait on each guardian, who departed not from before him." The keeping of the other two pyramids was in like manner entrusted to a statue, assisted by a spirit. I have collected a certain number of tales resembling that of Mourtadi ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... Avrillia had hinted, the toast, in spite of its appearance, was really Angel Food cake; and as she ate it, Sara found at her elbow a bottle marked "Birdsong Wine—Bluebird." As the Gunki were all eating, they couldn't wait on her, so she poured it into her glass herself; and when she had taken a sip, it tasted just like April! You may imagine that, from that time on, Sara had no further anxiety about what she was to eat, and ...
— The Garden of the Plynck • Karle Wilson Baker

... she replied sadly "Although they eat men and old women, they keep the young maidens to wait on them." ...
— Japanese Fairy World - Stories from the Wonder-Lore of Japan • William Elliot Griffis

... experience which is metaphorically spoken of as "going down hill." As a baby little Annie had been surrounded by comforts and luxuries, and her father and mother had lived in a large house, and kept a carriage, and Annie had two nurses to wait on herself alone. These were in the days before she could remember anything. With her first early memories came the recollection of a much smaller house, of much fewer servants, of her mother often in tears, and her father often away. Then there was no house at ...
— A World of Girls - The Story of a School • L. T. Meade

... like the mother very much; give everything to she. If a China boy no like the mother, no work hard for she, no send she everything—Oh! horrible! very bad! All the sons marry, bring home the wife to wait on she. Not like the wife so much as the mother, on ...
— The American Missionary — Volume 38, No. 06, June, 1884 • Various

... some pity for me. I love you with all my soul. Let me serve you, let me wait on you. Let me see you sometimes and hear your voice. Have you no pity for me? I do not ask for love, or friendship, or the meanest gift. Only do not hate me. I have led an evil life, I know it, but for your sake, for ...
— The Northern Iron - 1907 • George A. Birmingham

... come into His royal presence should first go to the house of the women, the church." (See Bunyan's Greatness of the Soul, vol. 1, p. 145). Every soul must be fitted for the royal presence, usually in church fellowship: but these lovely maidens sometimes wait on and instruct those who never enter the house Beautiful; who belong to the church universal, but not to any local body of Christians. John directs his Revelations to the seven churches in Asia; Paul, his epistles to the churches in Galatia, or to the church at Corinth-all distinct bodies of ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... I beg you will tell him that Auguste has come, and that I request he will let me know when we may wait on him?—" ...
— Valerie • Frederick Marryat

... bringing-home for you and our dear master. Most of us was here servants when Mr. Geoffry, your father, went south. A cheerful, pleasant gentleman he was, and your mamma as pleasant a lady. And here is Mrs. Betts to wait on you." ...
— The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax • Harriet Parr

... soap on the chair, for the next thing I knew she was stretched on the flure, an' I had to fetch the doctor, an' he says she'll have to kape to her room for a fortnight or more, an' the lord only knows how I'm to wait on her an' manage the three av ye, wid yer ...
— Explorers of the Dawn • Mazo de la Roche

... entangled, and yet flutter away. Thus likewise for the Water; consult the Rivers depth, and let your Rods be proportionable; what is Lim'd of them being above the Water, and a Mallard, &c. as a Stale placed here and there, as aforesaid. You need not wait on them, but three times a day visit them, and see your Game; if you miss any Rods (therefore know their Number) some Fowl entangled is got away with it, into some Hole, &c. and here your Spaniel will be serviceable ...
— The School of Recreation (1696 edition) • Robert Howlett

... it whether ye like it or not," blazed Sir Terence at him. "I mean you to take advantage of it. D' ye think I'll suffer any man to cast a slur upon Lady O'Moy? I'll be sending my friends to wait on you to-day, Count; and—by God!—Tremayne himself shall be ...
— The Snare • Rafael Sabatini

... ee, Jean, My soul langs to be free, Jean, And angels wait on me To the land o' the leal! Now fare ye weel, my ain Jean, This warld's care is vain, Jean; We'll meet and aye be fain In ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 3 - Sorrow and Consolation • Various

... relate it, but I dread lest it should be a fatal journey, for him or my brother, or both! For he declared to Sir Arthur, without hesitation, he would wait on Mr. Clifton directly, and oblige him either to produce Anna St. Ives, or meet ...
— Anna St. Ives • Thomas Holcroft

... in advanced state of pregnancy, others now having young children, and whose husbands for the greater part are either in the army, prisoners, or dead. Some say: "I have such a one sick at my house; who will wait on them when I am gone?" Others say: "What are we to do? We have no house to go to, and no means to buy, build, or rent any; no parents, relatives, or friends, to go to." Another says: "I will try and ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman

... must not keep company with the unsaved. Those who do, lose spirituality. If you love God and desire to live a spiritual life, wait on God and let him select ...
— Food for the Lambs; or, Helps for Young Christians • Charles Ebert Orr

... know nothing authentic of the quarrel, so much the subject of rumour and noise, nor do I know more of the present designs or future plans. I am at all times at your Lordship's orders, to wait on you whenever you please; the weather is now so much improved, that I can attend you in London any morning that may suit you; but I really have nothing yet to state beyond the contents of my ...
— Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1) - From the Original Family Documents • Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

... this had been your busy day," remarked Bob. "Right-oh, old girl; jump into your things, and I'll wait on the mat. Any chance ...
— Back To Billabong • Mary Grant Bruce

... spirits. It was impossible for anyone to be shy or sober, for such gales of merriment arose they blew the starch out of the stiffest, and made the saddest jolly. Mother Atkinson, as all called their hostess, was the merriest there, and the busiest; for she kept flying up to wait on the children, to bring out some new dish, or to banish the live stock, who were of such a social turn that the colt came into the entry and demanded sugar; the cats sat about in people's laps, winking suggestively ...
— Eight Cousins • Louisa M. Alcott

... petitions to the Throne of Grace on our behalf, that the deceased may be restored to us, and the late dame Eleanor Pryce be raised from the dead. If your personal attendance appears to you to be necessary, I will send my coach and six, with proper servants to wait on you hither, whenever you please to appoint. Recompense of any kind that you may please to propose would be made with the utmost gratitude; but I wish the bare mention of it is not offensive to ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827 • Various

... the drawing-room and left her there, drank several glasses of champagne and watched her during supper. She allowed two young members of the Diplomatic Corps to wait on her, but made fun of them all the time and treated them as if ...
— Married • August Strindberg

... doesn't remember why he left Missouri but the sister of Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she could not own a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the child to a flat boat captain to wash dishes and wait on ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - From Interviews with Former Slaves: Indiana Narratives • Works Projects Administration

... their chairs, attending to their wants. Chapeau had now too many of a soldier's duties to give his time to those of a serving-man, and the sisters and wives of the Vendean officers had long since learnt to wait on the heroes whom they loved and admired. De Lescure was already seated on his sofa, by the window, and his wife was, as usual, close to his side. He had wonderfully improved since he reached Laval; and though it was the firm conviction, both ...
— La Vendee • Anthony Trollope

... not repeat to you that I am ready to wait on you whenever you wish to see me. Whenever you do so I hope you will not scruple to call on me. I beg to be remembered in the kindest and most respectful manner to yr. Brother, your sister, your nephew, and all other friends.—I ever am, my dearest ...
— Life of Adam Smith • John Rae

... up and down, in and out, swing your partners—what's bid? He ken plow as crooked as a mule's hind leg, sleep hard as a 'possum in wintertime, eat like a snake, git left efery time—but he ken ketch fish. They wait on him. What's bid?" ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.) • Various

... the boy of the lady, I think the married lady is a sister but I do not ask any one, oh—and another brother, who does not live here only on Saturdays and Sundays. Aunt Margaret makes ten, and they have a man to wait on the table. His name is a butler. I guess you have read about them in stories. I am taken right in to be one of the family, and I have a good time every day now. Aunt Margaret's father is a college teacher, and Aunt Margaret's ...
— Turn About Eleanor • Ethel M. Kelley

... edge of the dead ground against the river, and looked down to Tigris, as in later days I have looked down to the Jordan. The doctor and I were told to set up our aid-post in a deep nulla there, and wait on events. A report came from our air-folk that five thousand Turks were on Juber Island, opposite Huweslet. We moved steadily forward to the attack, steadily but unbelievingly. Unbelief rose to positive derision, for as we topped a slight brow we gave ...
— The Leicestershires beyond Baghdad • Edward John Thompson

... afterwards alone in his closet. What the conversation was, I can't tell you: one should think not very explicit, for in a day or two afterwards it was thought proper to send the Archbishop and Chancellor to hear his lordship's complaints; but on receiving a message that they would wait on him by the King's orders, he prevented the visit by going directly to the Chancellor; and on hearing their commission, Lord Harcourt, after very civil speeches of regard to their persons, said, he must desire to be excused, ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole

... Ross and his son, Mr. W.T. Stannus, had been deputed to go to Paris to wait on Lord Hertfort, and urge him to assist in the expense of finishing the Antrim Junction Railway. The dean is in his eighty-first year; fifty-one years of his life have been spent in the management of the Hertfort estate, and whatever difference of opinion may exist ...
— The Land-War In Ireland (1870) - A History For The Times • James Godkin

... to get supper," he said to Eve. "There'll be twenty-three plates." And to Smith: "Hal — you help Eve wait on the table. And if anybody acts up rough you slam him on the jaw — don' argue, don't wait — just slam him good, and I'll come on ...
— The Flaming Jewel • Robert Chambers

... my friend's offer. I went home; the horse followed me—by a slow train. Oh, Francis, how devoutly I believed in that horse I how carefully I looked after all his little comforts! I had never gone the length of hiring a man-servant to wait on myself; but I went to the expense of hiring one to wait upon him. If I thought a little of myself when I bought the softest saddle that could be had for money, I thought also of my horse. When the man at the shop afterwards offered me spurs and a whip, I turned from him with ...
— The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices • Charles Dickens

... which the Queen commonly passes on her way to chapel. At the door stood a gentleman dressed in velvet, with a gold chain, whose office was to introduce to the Queen any person of distinction that came to wait on her; it was Sunday, when there is usually the greatest attendance of nobility. In the same hall were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, a great number of Councillors of State, officers of the Crown, and gentlemen, who waited the Queen's coming ...
— Travels in England and Fragmenta Regalia • Paul Hentzner and Sir Robert Naunton

... and adjustments in church creeds can wait on this consecration, this baptism of unction. I never heard that the statesman who formulated the peace at Paris in 1815 got in the way of the Household Brigades and the Highlanders at Waterloo and ...
— The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10 (of 10) • Various

... money from his treasury. Reflect on my security for his adhering to his future engagements, from the consideration of his conduct under his past promises. I do not agree to his ready money. Let me have my jaghires as formerly; otherwise, leaving this place, I will wait on you at Benares, and thence will go towards Shahjehanabad, because he has not adhered to his engagement. Send letters to Asoph ul Dowlah, and to Mr. Middleton, and Hussein Reza Khan, and Hyder Beg Khan, not to molest the Begum's jaghires, and to let them remain, as formerly, with the ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. XII. (of XII.) • Edmund Burke

... valet to wait on him. He had the problem of selecting his scarf and his socks for the morning. Jim had come into a lot of money. He had been earning a bank clerk's salary, with no way of spending it. And now he had a bank to spend and a plenty ...
— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes

... Scripture quotations was, "Wait on the Lord." He had applied it to real estate and to ...
— The Unknown Quantity - A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales • Henry van Dyke

... bride's brother, who seemed to be a reasonable man, and who would be aware also that a suit at law could be instituted in the case against his sister; though in any such suit I held it might be best for both parties not to engage. And at the old woman's request, I set out with the carpenter to wait on the bride's brother, in order to see whether he was not prepared for some such arrangement as I suggested, and, besides, able to furnish us with some explanation of the extraordinary step ...
— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller

... for her folded in peace at last, and, living or dead, she must go to him. She remembered that the message said,—"Hire a capable woman in Vancouver," and it brought her a ray of comfort. If the time was not already past she would ask nothing better than to wait on him herself. Presently, when there was a hum of voices below, Helen, white of face but steady in nerves, descended ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss

... improved as a motive for self-examination, and a beacon to warn us from similar misconduct. "O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee. Let INTEGRITY and UPRIGHTNESS preserve me, for I wait on thee." ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I • Francis Augustus Cox

... he sought to rival his seniors at the Bar. Unwilling to wait on time, he aspired to leap at once to this equality. It was the daring of genius, and of a genius which counted as only a stimulant the obstacles intervening. To grapple with giants, such as he found in Guion, Yerger, Sharkey, McNutt, and Lake, would have intimidated a less bold and daring ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks

... with a pair of scissors. I think I should have done the same. Reynolds bolted from the room. So should I have done. I sympathised with both of them. Reynolds fled to her mistress, and, declaring it to be no part of her duty to wait on tigers, gave notice. ...
— Jaffery • William J. Locke

... a dear little lady! It's a wonder to see the likes of you. The saints above bless the hand and the fut that wasn't above doing that same! and may ye always have plenty to wait on ye, and the angels ...
— Melbourne House • Elizabeth Wetherell

... wait on table must be careful to see that everything is in readiness before the meal is announced, so that she can do her work easily, without subjecting those at the table to unnecessary delay. She should have water, bread, and butter (if used), hot dishes ready for the hot foods, and dessert dishes conveniently ...
— Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Science in Rural Schools • Ministry of Education Ontario

... "Peppina would not wait on us. She would be in the kitchen. Am I justified in taking her? Of course I could help her with money. If I had not seen her, talked to her, that is what I should have done, no doubt. But she wants—she wants everything, peace, a decent ...
— A Spirit in Prison • Robert Hichens

... life itself. At night, these poor innocent sufferers, these martyrs of avarice and extortion, were brought into dungeons; and in the season when nature takes refuge in insensibility from all the miseries and cares which wait on life, they were three times scourged, and made to reckon the watches of the night by periods and intervals of torment. They were then led out, in the severe depth of winter, which there at certain seasons would be severe ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. X. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... carriage, with a cousin, older than I, who had been already in the house of the lady when I came. She told her mistress of me, and I was sent for, because I was quick and lively in my ways, and white of face, almost as white as the beautiful lady herself. My work was to wait on the mistress, and help my cousin, who was her maid. Yamina—that was my cousin's name—could have told you more about the place in the country than I, for she was even then a woman. But she died a few months after we both left ...
— The Golden Silence • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... I shall hope to wait on the Rector shortly," said young Wentworth, more and more stiffly; "but at present I am sorry it is not in my power. Good morning, Miss Wodehouse—good morning; I am happy to have had the opportunity——" and the voice of ...
— The Rector • Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

... by no means the worst that woman has to bear in this country. I thank God my daughters came to a Christian land. A girl is of little account here, except to bear burdens, or wait on her lord and master. And when her husband dies she is to be deeply pitied. Married when but a small child, she goes into her husband's family to be cared for by his people, until old enough to be his wife in reality. Sometimes she is well treated, sometimes not. If he does not happen to fancy ...
— All Aboard - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry

... the face of his lord, he put away the three and gained the three; so were there three disciples in addition to the three; and as the three stars range around the Trayastrimsas heaven, waiting upon the three and five, so the three wait on Buddha. ...
— Sacred Books of the East • Various

... good-hearted—jest like his daddy. So he totes the chile home, an' I know Hester (Miss Leo's maid) was ragen' mad about it, 'cause she had to wait on her the whole enduren' trip home, fo' seem like that chile nevah had been taught ...
— The Bondwoman • Marah Ellis Ryan

... faces of Rameses, in their blue yeleks and unsandalled feet—would go into the desert as their forefathers did for the Shepherd Kings. But there would be no spoil for them—no slaves with swelling breasts and lips of honey; no straight-limbed servants of their pleasure to wait on them with caressing fingers; no rich spoils carried back from the fields of war to the mud hut, the earth oven, and the thatched roof; no rings of soft gold and necklaces of amber snatched from the fingers and bosoms of the captive and the dead. Those days were ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... spoke, a song came to them from a lighted window over their heads. Then the window darkened abruptly, but the song continued as Alice went down through the house to wait on the little veranda. "Mi chiamo Mimi," she sang, and in her voice throbbed something almost startling in its sweetness. Her father and mother listened, not speaking until the song stopped with the click of the wire screen at the front ...
— Alice Adams • Booth Tarkington

... life? My very children are turned against me. Go you down and fetch your good Susan, and take order for bringing up your children and gear. Benthall shall take your turn at the lodge. What are you tarrying for? Do you doubt whether your wife have rank enough to wait on the Queen? She should have been a knight's lady long ago, but that I deemed you would be glad to be quit of herald's fees; your service and estate have merited it, and I will crave license by to-day's courier from her Majesty to lay knighthood ...
— Unknown to History - A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland • Charlotte M. Yonge

... enjoy a wider range of selection of homes befitting higher tastes and growing ambition. Go, if you will, into the Southern section of our country where the bulk of our race resides, and there you will find by this same sturdy persistence to wait on time for a reward that schools, colleges, churches and business enterprises are being built and maintained. Prejudices which retard our progress ...
— Twentieth Century Negro Literature - Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating - to the American Negro • Various

... persons of quality? Take away your cold tea and cold cake instantly. Give them to the chambermaid you were flirting with whilst Her Highness was waiting. Order some fresh tea at once; and do not presume to bring it yourself: have it brought by a civil waiter who is accustomed to wait on ladies, and not, like ...
— The Inca of Perusalem • George Bernard Shaw

... And give them voice and utterance once again. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate[420-1] wait on each, So let ...
— Familiar Quotations • John Bartlett

... ridges; it was now found that one of the horses was missing, having been lost in one of the dense thickets on the bed of the creek. Mr. H. Gregory therefore returned to search for the lost animal, and we halted till 9.20, and then went on with the party, leaving Mr. Baines to wait on the track till Mr. Gregory came up; at 10.20 p.m. reached the Wickham River and followed it down to the junction of Depot Creek, which we crossed at noon, and camped in a grassy flat about a mile lower down; at 2.0 am Mr. H. Gregory and Mr. Baines came into the camp, but had ...
— Journals of Australian Explorations • A C and F T Gregory

... cold thin drink out of his leather bottle, His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, Is far beyond a prince's delicates, His viands sparkling in a golden cup, His body couched in a curious bed, When care, mistrust, and treasons wait on him. ...
— Characters of Shakespeare's Plays • William Hazlitt

... chafe that wait on service scorned, Justice denied, and truth to silence driven; From men we left him to appeal to Heaven, 'Gainst fraud set high, ...
— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II • Thomas Lord Cochrane

... my comfort. For these two reasons: as at present the Captain has appointed one of the men always to be with me, but I do not think it just thus to take a seaman out of the ship; and, secondly, when at sea I am rather badly off for any one to wait on me. The man is willing to be my servant, and all the expenses would be under 60 pounds per annum. I have taught him to shoot and skin birds, so that in my main object he is very useful. I have now left England ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin

... therefore hie thee fast and fetch me the sword. Then the damosel departed, and found Sir Uwaine sleeping upon a bed in another chamber, so she went unto Sir Uwaine, and awaked him, and bade him, Arise, and wait on my lady your mother, for she will slay the king your father sleeping in his bed, for I go to fetch his sword. Well, said Sir Uwaine, go on your way, and let me deal. Anon the damosel brought Morgan the sword with quaking hands, and she lightly took the sword, and pulled it ...
— Le Morte D'Arthur, Volume I (of II) - King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table • Thomas Malory

... catching me like this!" she said, "I thought when the bell rang that you were my dressmaker.... If you want a highball you'll have to wait on yourself. Phil Edington brought an awfully good bottle of Scotch last night. I declare I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a youngster or two on my staff. Old men are such bores, anyway, and, as a ...
— The Blood Red Dawn • Charles Caldwell Dobie

... the bell which summoned Vincenzo, and bade him wait on Signer Ferrari's orders. Guido disappeared under his escort, giving me a laughing nod of salutation as he left the room. I watched his retiring figure with a strange pitifulness—the first emotion of the kind that had awakened in me for him ...
— Vendetta - A Story of One Forgotten • Marie Corelli

... good," she went on to advise Pao-yue, "and we are all willing to go also; and why not avail yourself of this opportunity to dismiss us in a body? It will be for our good, and you too on the other hand, needn't perplex yourself about not getting better people to come and wait on you!" ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin

... that these farms don't look very thrifty, somehow. Indians are a lazy lot; they don't like work. Did you notice how all those big fellows at dinner sat down with us and the stage passengers, and the poor women had to wait on everybody? ...
— The Boy Settlers - A Story of Early Times in Kansas • Noah Brooks

... then forty shillings I had my booke of Songs and Sonnets heere: How now Simple, where haue you beene? I must wait on my selfe, must I? you haue not the booke of Riddles about you, haue you? Sim. Booke of Riddles? why did you not lend it to Alice Short-cake vpon Alhallowmas last, ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... be, but when I began to think how little I had saved, how long a time it took to save at all, how short a time I might have at my age to live, and how she would be left to the rough mercies of the world, with barely enough to keep her from the sorrows that wait on poverty; then it was that I ...
— The Old Curiosity Shop • Charles Dickens

... her ease, as only she could do, she went on with her breakfast, and we forgot all about her. She stayed, however, in the room to wait on the table. It was afterwards remembered that she had not been out of our sight since she came down the garret-stairs. Also, that her room looked out upon the opposite side of the house from that on which ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 • Various

... they play cards in the-smoking-room on deck?" grumbled the chief steward; "there's a man on duty there until two o'clock—they know that well enough. Who's going to wait on them, and see ...
— Tom Gerrard - 1904 • Louis Becke

... of thy absence from the tables of heterogeneous luxury will be profitable to thy stomach, perhaps already sorely drenched with Londo-Parisian sauces, and a new stock of health will bring thee an appetite to relish the wholesome food of the chase. Never-failing sleep will wait on thee at the time she comes to soothe the rest of animated nature, and ere the sun's rays appear in the horizon thou wilt spring from thy hammock fresh as the April lark. Be convinced also that the dangers and difficulties ...
— Wanderings In South America • Charles Waterton

... own spirits incline to the volatile. I like not that puritanical coldness of intercourse which acts upon men as the winter winds do upon the surface of the mountain streams, freezing them into immovable propriety; and less do I delight in that festivity where calculation seems to wait on merriment. Joy at such a board can never rise to blood heat, for the jingle in the mind of cent. per cent., which rises above the constrained mirth of the assembly, will hold the guests so anchored to the consideration of profit and loss, that in vain ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 1 July 1848 • Various

... suits," I say, even as has been said, what that is whereof I intend to discourse. And that which it says in the words "time suits" is not here to be passed over with a dry foot, because there is a most powerful reason for my action; but it is to be seen how reasonably time must wait on all our acts, and especially ...
— The Banquet (Il Convito) • Dante Alighieri

... atavistic master whose mistress one is, to wait on his pleasure. This sort always considers every pretty woman 'shallow,' a sort of peacock ...
— The Beautiful and Damned • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... seem to know the' was such a thing. It never occurred to him that the only way to have clean dishes was to wash dirty ones. Hammy and Locals, those freeborn sons of Independence, was glad an' proud to have the chance to wait on him; but I must confess that the day he sat by the fire with a pile of wood within reachin' distance, an' let the fire go out, I grew ...
— Happy Hawkins • Robert Alexander Wason

... yourself to do that, my dear," rejoined Mrs. Peck, with a touch of tartness. "I'll wait on Mr. Knight myself. You can lay the supper in the parlour if you've a mind to be useful. There'll be ...
— The Tidal Wave and Other Stories • Ethel May Dell

... in each of our seaport towns, who, on the arrival of your vessels, shall wait on the captains and offer every service in my power; he will receive their letters, bills of lading, and transmit the whole to me; even things which you may wish to arrive safely in any country in Europe, after having conferred ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. I • Various

... gen'ally go up the river. I'm a Member of a Piskytorial Association. I don't do any fishin', to mention, but I jest carry a rod in my 'and. Railway Comp'ny takes anglers at reduced fares, you see, Sir.... No, Sir, don't stay 'ere all day long. Sometimes the Guv'nor sends me out to wait on parties at their own residences. Pleasant change, Sir? Ah, you're right there, Sir! There's one lady as lives in Prague Villas, Sir. I've been to do her 'air many a time. (He sighs sentimentally.) I did like waitin' on 'er, Sir. Sech ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, March 19, 1892 • Various

... do," Donald said, shaking with warmth the hand Mr. Dinsmore held out to him. "Raymond is one in a thousand. I've known him for years, and he has been a good and valuable friend to me. I wish it were possible for me to stay and wait on him myself; but army men are not their own masters, you know. He'll be wanting to get back to his ship before he's ...
— Grandmother Elsie • Martha Finley

... of your ladyship. David, the man after God's own heart, did wash and eat bread when his beloved child was removed—mine is restored to me, and shall I not show gratitude under a blessing, when he showed resignation under an affliction? Madam, I will wait on your gracious invitation with acceptance; and such of my friends with whom I may possess influence, and whose presence your ladyship may desire, shall accompany me to the festivity, that our Israel may be as ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott

... him, if my affairs required a Sir G. Hawke or who(m) you please to be made a peer, it should be down (done) sur le champ, but I would not be hampered by engagements. Qu'en pensez-vous, Seigneur? I take it for granted that Lord Gower will be here soon. I have desired Gregg to wait on him with an account of all that has passed in your affairs during my regency, because Gregg will be better able to state the matter to him, and to explain the necessity I have been under, by an unexpected increase of demands, of transcending ...
— George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life • E. S. Roscoe and Helen Clergue

... 3 "O Spirits, who wait on God, look at me, and at my being unable to see you! For when I was in my former bright nature, then I could see you. I sang praises as you do; and my ...
— First Book of Adam and Eve • Rutherford Platt

... know what you are doing. Is George still in Canada? Jean was expecting him to drop in any time. He has been very good to me ever since I landed first in England. I will never be able to pay her back. I can't give you any news as I don't know it myself. Don't wait on a letter from me before you write but write often and tell me all about yourself and the boys. Tell Jack to write and I will drop him a card when I can. Keep your heart up and look after yourself. Tell Miss Holmes I was asking for her; also ...
— The Escape of a Princess Pat • George Pearson

... walking by the riverside, Mr Westray was with the masons on the roof of the transept; only Anastasia Joliffe was at Bellevue Lodge when the front-door-bell rang. When her aunt was at home, Anastasia was not allowed to "wait on the gentlemen," nor to answer the bell; but her aunt being absent, and there being no one else in the house, she duly opened one leaf of the great front-door, and found a gentleman standing on the semicircular flight of steps outside. That he was a gentleman she knew ...
— The Nebuly Coat • John Meade Falkner

... be the seven days are not out. The men of David said, This is the day that the Lord will give thee the kingdom of Israel: But David perceived otherwise, and therefore adds yet to his temperance, patience (1 Sam 24:1-4; 26:8-10). Not sullenly saying like that wicked king, Why should I wait on the Lord any longer? (2 Kings 6:32). But comforts himself with the truth of the promise, saying, His time shall come to die, &c. He that believeth, maketh not haste, but waiteth patiently, for the perfecting God's work in God's time. That is excellent in the song: "I ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... there were pipes and fiddles, and as much dancing and deray within as used to be at Sir Robert's house at Pace and Yule, and such high seasons. They lap off, and my gudesire, as seemed to him, fastened his horse to the very ring he had tied him to that morning, when he gaed to wait on ...
— Redgauntlet • Sir Walter Scott

... dinner all of you ride out to Buck Hill and there wait on the poor old thing and together we can break the news to her. It's going to make me feel awfully bad," ...
— The Comings of Cousin Ann • Emma Speed Sampson

... In the first place, he said that he always had been free, all his life, to run in and out of our house, and to wait on me like a brother." ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, Issue 15, January, 1859 • Various

... dined alone in the parlour, with his housekeeper to wait on him; they were just bringing in his food. The family and visitors had their meals in a separate and much more comfortable apartment in another part of the house, which was large. Sometimes, as a great favour and special ...
— Amaryllis at the Fair • Richard Jefferies

... as it was certain to be in the spring of the year, It was thought, however, that the army would require mos' of the means of transportation of this nature that offered; and it might put us to both inconvenience and delay, to wait on the tardy movements of quarter-masters and contractors. My grandfather shook his head when the thing was named, and advised us to remain as independent ...
— Satanstoe • James Fenimore Cooper

... will wait on the ladies at Belmont" (the home of Mrs. Pinckney and her daughter); "Mrs. Drayton begs the pleasure of your company to spend a few days"; "Lord and Lady Charles Montague's Compts to Mrs. and Miss Pinckney, and if it is agreeable to them shall ...
— Woman's Life in Colonial Days • Carl Holliday

... soon got used to us: at first we put her in the maidservants' room; they trained her, of course. And what do you think? The girl made wonderful progress; my wife became simply devoted to her, promoted her at last above the rest to wait on herself ... observe.... And one must do her the justice to say, my wife had never such a maid, absolutely never; attentive, modest, and obedient—simply all that could be desired. But my wife, I must confess, spoilt her too much; she dressed her well, fed her from ...
— A Sportsman's Sketches - Works of Ivan Turgenev, Vol. I • Ivan Turgenev

... marrying, had it pleased heaven to prosper my plan. When I was a boy and came from school and college, I used to see Mr. Bonnington, my father-in-law, with HIS young ones clustering round about him, so happy to be with him! so eager to wait on him! all down on their little knees round my mother before breakfast or jumping up on his after dinner. It was who should reach his hat, and who should bring his coat, and who should fetch his umbrella, and who should get the ...
— The Wolves and the Lamb • William Makepeace Thackeray

... working the "Monitor" and "Flyaway," 12 months, or 24 at furthest, will find all our earthly wishes satisfied, so far as money is concerned—and the more "feet" we have, the more anxiety we must bear—therefore, why not say "No—d—-n your 'prospects,' I wait on a sure thing—and a man is less than a man, if he can't wait 2 years for a fortune?" When you and I came out here, we did not expect '63 or '64 to find us rich men —and if that proposition had been made, we would have accepted it gladly. Now, ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... no means the case with a great number of commodities. Let us take the case of a speculative builder. While he is building a house he, like the farmer, must wait (or find someone to wait on his behalf), for his own reward, and for the repayment of his expenditure on wages and materials. But, after the house is built, if he lets it to a tenant for an annual rent, his waiting is far from over. Not until many years have passed will the rent payments add ...
— Supply and Demand • Hubert D. Henderson

... clergy were somewhat jealous of their sovereign's interference in these matters may be traced. When James charged the chaplains, who were to wait on the prince in Spain, to decline, as far as possible, religious disputes, he added, that "should any happen, my son is able to moderate in them." The king, observing one of the divines smile, grew warm, vehemently affirming, ...
— Literary Character of Men of Genius - Drawn from Their Own Feelings and Confessions • Isaac D'Israeli

... she lifted up her eyes, with infinite relief in all her sorrow, as for a moment she rested against him; but they had to move apart, for a servant came up with some wine, and Charles, putting her into a chair, began to wait on her and on ...
— A Reputed Changeling • Charlotte M. Yonge

... puritan, and yet there was something so melancholy in the man's eye, so sad and disappointed, that it seemed anything but hard. Two or three little children were playing about the door and when he came forward to wait on me one of them sidled forward and put ...
— Twelve Men • Theodore Dreiser

... of an idea do for a man, you see. Because, of course, it could have been. He had only to destroy the letter that lay there before him, to wait on until the next sailing, to make continued love to Vanessa, and never to go to Tawnleytown again. There was little probability that Janet would come here for him. Ten years and ten thousand miles ... despite all that he had vowed on Bald Knob that Sunday so long ago, ...
— O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920 • Various

... have no personal complaint to make against the waiter, but I shall feel greatly obliged if you can send us a different man to wait on us." ...
— Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants - or, Serving Old Glory as Line Officers • H. Irving Hancock

... short. Harlequin's a valet in the same house. And why they're servants now instead of actors is because it was about this time people began to think that Art and Religion and Love were things you could just ring the bell for, and up they would come and wait on you. So this is another sort of a...symbol. And the gods ...
— The Harlequinade - An Excursion • Dion Clayton Calthrop and Granville Barker

... said to him, I won't come. It's cruel to let him wait on a street corner and not even send notice, and to ...
— Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown Princess • Henry W. Fischer

... heat that the king, naturally irritated at being opposed by his son in full council, ordered the prince to be arrested and locked up in an old tower, where he had nothing but a very little furniture, a few books, and a single slave to wait on him. ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments • Andrew Lang.

... good, and say very many prayers, and wait on the gods very carefully, will the wise men of the medicine orders tell me of the deerskin records some day?" ...
— The Flute of the Gods • Marah Ellis Ryan

... discovering relations, linking one idea to another, and inventing apparatus, renders us much more ingenious. If, instead, we take everything just as it is given to us, we allow our minds to sink down into indifference; just as a man who always lets his servants dress him and wait on him, and his horses carry him about, loses finally not only the vigor but even the use of his limbs. Boileau boasted that he had taught Racine to rhyme with difficulty. There are many excellent labor-saving methods for studying science; but we are in sore need of one to ...
— Emile - or, Concerning Education; Extracts • Jean Jacques Rousseau

... be all right," said the old man, as he got up to wait on a customer. "Here, try a glass of my cider," and he handed the boy a dirty glass half filled with cider which the boy drank, and then looked queer at ...
— Peck's Bad Boy With the Cowboys • Hon. Geo. W. Peck

... astonishing how often Emma went out shopping or was busy, or had a bad finger or a bad foot, or was helping ma with something or other, or hadn't made herself tidy, so that Lydia had to wait on Mr. Thorne. But it was always with the same air of its being something very droll and amusing to do, and there were always some artless mistakes which required giggling apologies. Nor could he doubt that he was in her thoughts during his absence. She had a piano down stairs on which she accompanied ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 • Various

... brother slipped a slice of paper into a letter which he sent me from you the other day, with those pleasant words, "The Pembroke is arrived." I am going to receive it. I shall be in town the end of this week, only stay there about ten days, and wait on the Dominichin hither. Now I tremble! If it should not stand the trial among the number of capital pictures here! But it must; ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 • Horace Walpole

... Arabia, where the heat is excessive, they never drink any, and commonly live on excrement. The camels will subsist four months without tasting a drop of water. The goats and sheep drink still less. Indeed, if it were not for the horses, the Arabs would never go in search of water; they would wait on that which falls from the sky. The rains, which usually fall about the month of October, spread an universal joy. They keep all their holidays at this period. You can form no idea of this general happiness, having ...
— Perils and Captivity • Charlotte-Adelaide [nee Picard] Dard

... Touched with the sanctifying thoughts which wait On worthy spirit in a holy place, She prays with eager lips, and heart elate, To the Disposer of all earthly grace: And, kneeling, hears a secret wicket grate In the opposing wall; whence, face to face, A woman ...
— Orlando Furioso • Lodovico Ariosto

... Bumpkin; "I be 'ardly fit to wait on a gennleman like you. I ain't 'ad time this morning to change my gown ...
— The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit • Richard Harris

... morality are mixed half and half; and accordingly morality is said to have two legs only. In the dark age (of Kali), O thou best of the Bharata race, morality mixed with three parts of sin liveth by the side of men. Accordingly morality then is said to wait on men, with only a fourth part of itself remaining. Know, O Yudhishthira, that the period of life, the energy, intellect and the physical strength of men decrease in every Yuga! O Pandava, the Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas and Sudras, (in the Kali age) will practise morality and virtue deceitfully ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 • Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... the third morning he happened to pick up a paper, and glancing over its columns, saw an advertisement which caused every nerve in his body to tingle. It was an advertisement for a boy to work in the dining-room and wait on the table at the penitentiary. The advertisement stated that the sole duty of the boy was to wait on the table when the Confederate officers ate, as they objected to being waited upon by convicts. In less than five minutes Calhoun ...
— Raiding with Morgan • Byron A. Dunn

... stopped these and helped himself at his discretion. They appeared at a little door at one end of the table, and vanished at the other. That turn of democratic sentiment in decay, that ugly pride of menial souls, which renders equals loth to wait on one another, was very strong he found among these people. He was so preoccupied with these details that it was only just as he was leaving the place that he remarked the huge advertisement dioramas that marched ...
— When the Sleeper Wakes • Herbert George Wells

... the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate wait on each, So let us welcome ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... a weakness for the overwhelmingly polite attentions one receives from Italian and French shopkeepers. One gets none of it in Germany, and in America I am always under the deepest obligations if the haughty "sales-ladies" and "sales-gentlemen" will wait on the men and women who wish to buy. I am accustomed to the ignominy of being ignored, and to the insult of impudence if I protest; but why, oh, why, do politeness and ...
— As Seen By Me • Lilian Bell

... at him. "You would do that?" she breathed. "You'd take that delicate girl up there to wait on a lot of rough miners? I've worked for her and loved her and sheltered her from everything! She's not fit for any such life! ...
— A Prairie Infanta • Eva Wilder Brodhead

... and teaches Amy to do the same. You know, after the governess went, we were afraid little Amy would never do anything but wait on Charles, and idle in her pretty gentle way; but when he turned to better things so did she, and her mind has been growing all this time. Perhaps you don't see it, for she has not lost her likeness to a kitten, and looks all demure ...
— The Heir of Redclyffe • Charlotte M. Yonge

... looked up. Czipra was standing behind him. The poor gypsy girl could not allow anyone else to wait on Lorand: she had herself brought ...
— Debts of Honor • Maurus Jokai

... "They promised the welfare workers that they'd give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I found I had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an' wait on them, an' clean up an' all. Said they'd pay me twelve dollars a month, an' I could take the first month's money out by the week in clothes, an' for the first week all they gave me was this sunbonnet an' apron. I ...
— Anything Once • Douglas Grant

... Margaret. 'I'll bring you everything you want, and I know exactly how much sugar to put in. It pleases me to wait on you.' ...
— The Magician • Somerset Maugham

... still. "If I tie it up, Joel, you can't use it," she had said, fastening the broad strip of white cloth firmly over his shoulder. And Joel, knowing there was no use in protesting, had borne it as well as he could, making Davie wait on him, and driving Polly almost to despair in her efforts to amuse him, while she did up the morning work, Mother Pepper being away. "Why don't you play stage-coach, Joel?" proposed Polly now, as Joel couldn't vent his ...
— The Adventures of Joel Pepper • Margaret Sidney

... a deputation should wait on the boy's aunt—an old maiden resident—and ask her if she would house the piano till Mr. Phillotson should send for it. The smith and the bailiff started to see about the practicability of the suggested shelter, and the boy and the schoolmaster ...
— Jude the Obscure • Thomas Hardy

... Bud did not wait on ceremony. He began at once when Margaret was seated, even before his mother could get ...
— A Voice in the Wilderness • Grace Livingston Hill

... stumping in from the back room to wait on them showed no surprise at the two from hostile camps asking for one steak, but he tried so hard to watch the pair and to hear what they were saying that he nearly ruined one quarter of beef before he got what Kate wanted. ...
— Laramie Holds the Range • Frank H. Spearman

... forests awoke To the horn of the huntsman! Their dark, gloomy depths, Which had saddened and faded, Were pierced by the clear Ringing blast, and they listened, Revived and rejoiced, 330 To the laugh of the echo. The hounds and the huntsmen Are gathered together, And wait on the skirts Of the forest; and with them The Master; and farther Within the deep forest The dog-keepers, roaring And shouting like madmen, The hounds all a-bubble 340 Like fast-boiling water. Hark! There's the horn calling! You hear the pack yelling? They're ...
— Who Can Be Happy And Free In Russia? • Nicholas Nekrassov

... dost thou care not that my sister Mary Hath left me thus to wait on thee alone? I pray ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... ye what I know. There's my 'Rill cryin' her eyes out an' she confessed that Drugg had gone down to the tavern to fiddle, and that he'd been there before. She has to wait on store evenin's, as well as take care of that young ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long

... too, 'The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.' And in another place, 'Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He ...
— Christie Redfern's Troubles • Margaret Robertson

... Beyond the three r's he is instructed in geography, grammar, and history; he is taught drawing, algebra and geometry, music and astronomy and receives lessons in physiology, botany, and entomology. Matrons wait on him while he is well, and physicians and nurses attend him when he is sick. A steam laundry does his washing, and the latest modern appliances do his cooking. A library affords him relaxation for his ...
— The Old Franciscan Missions Of California • George Wharton James

... Bracy, with a sigh; "and the poor fellow is not fit to be about. Morton owned to it; but he will wait on me hand and foot, to that ...
— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn

... is furnish'd with good spirits, Whose mortal lives were busied to that end, That honour and renown might wait on them: And, when desires thus err in their intention, True love must needs ascend with slacker beam. But it is part of our delight, to measure Our wages with the merit; and admire The close proportion. ...
— The Divine Comedy, Complete - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell • Dante Alighieri

... abundance dry faggots, hemp, clarified butter and pitch. The officiating Brahman now causes the widow to repeat the prayer that as long as fourteen Indras reign, or as many years as there are hairs on her head, she may abide in heaven with her husband; that during this time the heavenly dancers may wait on her and her husband; and that by this act of merit all the ancestors of her mother and husband may ascend to heaven. She now presents her ornaments to her friends, ties some red cotton on both wrists, puts two ...
— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume II • R. V. Russell

... had become quite hysterical, and altogether incapable of performing her duties. Jethro looked at her for a moment in disgust, and in his predicament cast around for another to wait on him. There was no lack of these, at a safe distance, but they all seemed to be affected by the same mania. Jethro's eye alighted upon the back of another customer. She was, apparently, a respectable-looking lady ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... I loved to wait on Miss Laura and Mrs. Morris, and they taught both Billy and me to make ourselves useful about the house. Mrs. Morris didn't like going up and down the three long staircases, and sometimes we just raced up and down, waiting ...
— Beautiful Joe - An Autobiography of a Dog • by Marshall Saunders

... rejuvenescence, the true prize and guerdon of parentage. They may grow old or die, or bring us sorrow; it is enough that once they so lived and stirred a pride within us. Let Hedonist and idealist dispute, let one worship pleasure and another wait on the intangible joy, but in the fathering and mothering and the bringing up of young children, of the flesh, the mind, or the spirit, lies the natural happiness of men and women. It is a joy which outlasts disillusions; it rests surely upon ...
— Apologia Diffidentis • W. Compton Leith

... these were the chiefs of different parts of the kingdom. Others had special work to do—one to hear all the lawsuits and to settle disputes, another to command the army. Others had to work in the king's household, to wait on his wives and children, or to beat the big drum to call the people when the king wanted them, or to take care that no one entered the palace unless the king wished them to do so. But whatever their work was, all the chiefs and officers and people ...
— People of Africa • Edith A. How

... were waiting for him when he appeared, and he noticed with pleasure that Shiro, with a heavily-bandaged head, was insisting that he was perfectly able to wait on the table instead of breakfasting in bed. He calmly proceeded to serve breakfast in spite of Crane's remonstrances, having ceremoniously ordered out of the kitchen the colored man who had been secured to take ...
— The Skylark of Space • Edward Elmer Smith and Lee Hawkins Garby

... among the tenantry, but the young men are all bent on fighting, and indeed there are none of them who would make the sort of servant one wants in a campaign—a man who can not only groom horses and clean arms, but who knows something of war, can forage for provisions, cook, wait on table, and has intelligence. One wants an old soldier; one who has served in ...
— Saint Bartholomew's Eve - A Tale of the Huguenot WarS • G. A. Henty

... care of his tent, his bedding, his bath, his clothes, and all his personal effects. A good tent boy is a great feature on safari, for he relieves his master of all the little worries of life. The tent boys always wait on the table and do the family washing. They also see that the drinking water is boiled and filtered and that the water ...
— In Africa - Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country • John T. McCutcheon

... [1] born in a small village not far off; and other agents he sent to other places, with great expectations from all of them; and most of them promised him very fair, but performed nothing. Upon the King's arrival near Peronne, I went to wait on his majesty, and at the same time William Bische and others brought him the surrender of the town of Peronne, with ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8 - The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation • Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson

... I, "I shall, of course, wait on the Colonel immediately; pretend to him that it was a mere blunder, from the inattention of my servant—hand over Stubbes to the powers that punish, (here the poor fellow winced a little,) and make my peace as well as I can. But, adjutant, mind," said I, "and give the real version to all our fellows, ...
— The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer, Complete • Charles James Lever (1806-1872)

... are likely to meet now and then,' said Merton, 'and I trust that I may be permitted to wait on ...
— The Disentanglers • Andrew Lang

... the most sought-after girl at the picnic that afternoon; she was never short of a cavalier to wait on her lightest behest; she was her prettiest, her most charming self. The American whispered to her that a picnic without her would be a desolation and he had half a mind to stop another week at his aunt's—but Gertrude was not enjoying herself. From behind the gorse bushes, from between ...
— The Girls of St. Olave's • Mabel Mackintosh

... his hands, and said he would wait on the crowd when they had their dinner upon arriving home; which he certainly did, and with such success that the boys voted he continue to accept "tips" in that vocation whenever they were in camp, Bumpus vigorously ...
— The, Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island - or Marooned Among the Game-fish Poachers • Herbert Carter

... that a man should let any ancestors of his arise from their graves to wait on his guests at table. The Chinese are a polite race, and those of them who have visited England, and gone to dine in great English houses, will not have made this remark aloud to their hosts. I believe it is ...
— And Even Now - Essays • Max Beerbohm

... "I have ridden hard and long to find the rebels. I have killed two horses; I had to wait on Colonel Cromwell's leisure; I was fired at thrice as I rode. At long last and through many perils here ...
— The Lady of Loyalty House - A Novel • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... daughter. Phyllis, thou art to wait on a certain gentlewoman, at Master Goldsmith's, as next Thursday in the even, that shall judge if thou shouldst be meet for the place. Don thee in thy best ...
— The White Lady of Hazelwood - A Tale of the Fourteenth Century • Emily Sarah Holt

... their own error carries away and torments. And, again, those who, more like to me, so negligently and incuriously receive their good fortune. Those are folks who spend their time indeed; they pass over the present and that which they possess, to wait on hope, and for shadows and vain images ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne

... "Then I will wait on him, grandmother," cried the little Nanny; "do let the gentleman have them; I am ...
— Thaddeus of Warsaw • Jane Porter

... any of my old friends, or hear any news; but all the English were gone to their country-houses, and the opera, the proper place for gossip, is shut, because it is Lent; so I returned to the brig, and found Lord Cochrane ready to go ashore to wait on the Emperor, who had come in from San Cristova[)o] to meet him at the palace in town. His Lordship and Captain Crosbie, who went with him, did not return till late, but then well pleased ...
— Journal of a Voyage to Brazil - And Residence There During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823 • Maria Graham

... looking at the words without raising his eyes or making any sign. He had never seen the man yet worthy of being the husband of his daughter, and Simon Nixey was not much to his mind. Still, he was a kind-hearted man, and well-to-do for his station; he kept a servant to wait on his mother, and he would do no less for his wife. Phebe would not be left desolate if she could make up her mind to marry him. But with a deep instinctive jealousy, born of his absolute separation from his ...
— Cobwebs and Cables • Hesba Stretton

... up to the armory, and stood in wait on either side of the door; and as Melanthius came out, they leapt upon him and dragged him back by the hair and flung him on the ground and bound him tightly to a pillar hand and foot. "Lie there," said Eumaeus, "and take your ease: the dawn will not find you sleeping, ...
— The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10) • Various

... decided on that blue hat. I don't believe you'll ever regret it. Good-bye. Be sure and come to see me soon. Gabriella, will you help Florrie about her hat now? I declare, I thought Matty would never get through with you. And, of course, we didn't want anybody but you to wait on us. We were just saying that you had the most beautiful taste, and it is so wise of you to go out to work and not sit down and sew at home in order to support your position. A position that can't support itself isn't much of a prop, my husband used to say. But I don't believe ...
— Life and Gabriella - The Story of a Woman's Courage • Ellen Glasgow



Words linked to "Wait on" :   help, fag, aid, assist, valet, attend, attend to



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