await

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”).[1] More at English wait.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈwɛɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪt

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

1. (transitive, formal) To wait for.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

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

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:

     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.

   I await your reply to my letter.

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.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     O Eve, some farther 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.

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

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

await (plural awaits)

1. (obsolete) A waiting for; ambush.
2. (obsolete) Watching, watchfulness, suspicious observation.
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:

     , Book VII:

     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.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

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

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