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WAITER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant)
Synonyms:
server; waiter
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("waiter" is a kind of...):
dining-room attendant; restaurant attendant (someone employed to provide service in a dining room)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waiter"):
carhop (a waiter at a drive-in restaurant)
counterman; counterperson; counterwoman (someone who attends a counter (as in a diner))
sommelier; wine steward; wine waiter (a waiter who manages wine service in a hotel or restaurant)
waitress (a woman waiter)
Derivation:
wait (serve as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person who waits or awaits
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("waiter" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "waiter"):
lurcher; lurker; skulker (someone waiting in concealment)
Derivation:
wait (look forward to the probable occurrence of)
wait (stay in one place and anticipate or expect something)
wait (wait before acting)
Context examples:
Had their party been perfectly agreeable, the delay would have been nothing; but General Tilney, though so charming a man, seemed always a check upon his children's spirits, and scarcely anything was said but by himself; the observation of which, with his discontent at whatever the inn afforded, and his angry impatience at the waiters, made Catherine grow every moment more in awe of him, and appeared to lengthen the two hours into four.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
In the course of the spring she must return their civilities by one very superior party—in which her card-tables should be set out with their separate candles and unbroken packs in the true style—and more waiters engaged for the evening than their own establishment could furnish, to carry round the refreshments at exactly the proper hour, and in the proper order.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I took up twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the table: a hundred more attended below on the ground, some with dishes of meat, and some with barrels of wine and other liquors slung on their shoulders; all which the waiters above drew up, as I wanted, in a very ingenious manner, by certain cords, as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
It happened to be a hired waiter who knew nothing about the neighborhood and Jo was looking round for help when Laurie, who had heard what she said, came up and offered his grandfather's carriage, which had just come for him, he said.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Thenceforward, he sat all day over the fire in the private room, gnawing his nails; there he dined, sitting alone with his fears, the waiter visibly quailing before his eye; and thence, when the night was fully come, he set forth in the corner of a closed cab, and was driven to and fro about the streets of the city.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Pray sir, turning to the waiter, did not you hear, did not his servant say whether he belonged to the Kellynch family?
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
You thought the waiter must not hear, as if he cared!
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
My unfortunate friend the waiter, who had quite recovered his spirits, did not appear to be disturbed by this, but joined in the general admiration without being at all confused.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I see the direction in which all this points. The culprit is— “Mr. John Turner,” cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The brother scribbled a note upon a leaf of his pocket-book, and, ringing the bell, he handed it to the waiter.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
