WAITER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does waiter mean? 

• WAITER (noun)
  The noun WAITER has 2 senses:

1. a person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant)

2. a person who waits or awaits

  Familiarity information: WAITER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WAITER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

server; waiter

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 

The waiter immediately withdrew to make the exchange.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Jane and Elizabeth looked at each other, and the waiter was told he need not stay.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She was actually engaged to one of the head waiters in the hotel, and there was no difficulty in getting her address.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The waiter came into the room soon afterwards.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a fish-monger and a tide-waiter.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Is there a place in this neighbourhood called Thornfield?" I asked of the waiter who answered the summons.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Young Firby, the ruffian, ’e’s a waiter now.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I asked the waiter, and he said it was called paprika hendl, and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He tipped the waiter a quarter, and spent fifty cents for a package of Egyptian cigarettes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)