waiter

Meaning

1. A male or female attendant who serves customers at their tables in a restaurant, café or similar.
2. Someone who waits for somebody or something; a person who is waiting.
3. A person working as an attendant at the London Stock Exchange.
4. A vessel or tray on which something is carried, as dishes, etc.; a salver. (See etymology of dumbwaiter.)
5. A custom house officer; a tide waiter.
6. A watchman.
7. To work as a waiter.

Etymology / origin

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.

Related words

Descendant words

• witer(Cebuano) (der)
• ウェイター(Japanese) (bor)
• ウエーター(Japanese) (bor)
• 웨이터(Korean) (bor)
• weita(Swahili) (bor)
• weta(Swazi) (bor)
• uweta(Zulu) (bor)

Sources

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