LYING IN WAIT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lying in wait mean? 

• LYING IN WAIT (noun)
  The noun LYING IN WAIT has 1 sense:

1. the act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise

  Familiarity information: LYING IN WAIT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LYING IN WAIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

ambuscade; ambush; lying in wait; trap

Hypernyms ("lying in wait" is a kind of...):

coup de main; surprise attack (an attack without warning)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lying in wait"):

dry-gulching (the act of killing from ambush)

 Context examples 

At that instant, Miss Murdstone, who has been lying in wait for nothing else all along, says in a deep warning voice: Clara!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is equally clear that his enemies, lying in wait for him near your door, mistook your husband for him in the foggy morning light.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I resolved to do what I could, in a quiet way, to improve our proceedings myself, but I foresaw that my utmost would be very little, or I must degenerate into the spider again, and be for ever lying in wait.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)