waiting means watching, observation; keeping watch, guarding.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, waiting ranks #7,326 of 42,747 for Qualifying.
waiting is pronounced /ˈweɪtɪŋ/.
Etymology
From Middle English waitynge, waytynge, equivalent to wait + -ing.
noun
- Watching, observation; keeping watch, guarding.
- The act of staying or remaining in expectation.e.g.“Waiting for any news in a waiting room. (gerund)”
- Attendance, service.e.g.“But it had never occurred to him that he should live in any other than what he would have called an ordinary way, with green glasses for hock, and excellent waiting at table.” — 1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXVI, in Middlemarch […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book IV, page 227:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).