waiter
/ˈweɪ̯təː/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.61 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A male or female attendant who serves customers at their tables in a restaurant, café or similar.
noun
A person working as an attendant at the London Stock Exchange.
noun
A vessel or tray on which something is carried, as dishes, etc.; a salver. (See etymology of dumbwaiter.)
Obsolete
verb
To work as a waiter.
Example Sentences
- "Waiter! There's a fly in my soup."
- "She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher."
- "A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed. ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’ […] ‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’"
- "However, the NTPF also contained implicit negative incentives for the public sector by offering alternative private sector treatment for the longest waiters at no extra cost to patients or no penalty to public providers."
- "Cautioning her, in these terms, not to trip over a heterogeneous litter of pastry-cook’s trays, lamps, waiters full of glasses, and piles of rout seats which were strewn about the hall, plainly bespeaking a late party on the previous night, the man led the way to the second story […]"
- "RUSTOMJEE PESTONJEE will sell by Public Auction, on MONDAY, the 9th instant, at his Rooms, in Medow Street, the property of the late Captain Ord, 3rd Regt. N.I., comprising a Double Barrelled Gun, by Baker, Silver Tea and Sugar Pots, four pairs of Muffiniers, Spoons and Forks, &c., a pair of Plated Hotwater Curry Dishes, Waiters, Candlesticks, Dessert Knives and Forks, &c. &c., also, the Effects of several deceased persons."
Etymology
From late 14th century Middle English waiter, wayter (“attendant, watchman”). By surface analysis, wait + -er. Sense of "servant who waits at tables" is from late 15th century, originally in reference to household servants; in reference to inns, eating houses, etc., it is attested from 1660s. Feminine form waitress first recorded 1834. The London Stock Exchange sense harks back to the early days of trading in coffee-shops.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *weǵ-, waiter
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈweɪ̯təː/