English

Verb

await ‎(third-person singular simple present awaits, present participle awaiting, simple past and past participle awaited)

1. (transitive, formal) To wait for.
   • Milton

     Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat, / Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:

     I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.

   I await your reply to my letter.‎

2. (transitive) To expect.
3. (transitive) To be in store for; to be ready or in waiting for.

   Glorious rewards await the good in heaven; eternal suffering awaits mortal sinners in ****.‎

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the intersection of the two main streets, a "jog" at each street corner left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour was well occupied by carts and wagons from the country and empty drays awaiting hire.

   • Milton

     O Eve, some farther change awaits us nigh.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To serve or attend; to wait on, wait upon.
5. (intransitive) To watch, observe.
6. (intransitive) To wait; to stay in waiting.

Synonyms

• (wait for): wait for, anticipate, listen (of a sound)

Usage notes

• As await means to wait for, it is not followed by "for". *I am awaiting for your reply is therefore incorrect.

Translations

Noun

await ‎(plural awaits)

1. (obsolete) A waiting for; ambush.
2. (obsolete) Watching, watchfulness, suspicious observation.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, Book VII:

     Also, madame, syte you well that there be many men spekith of oure love in this courte, and have you and me gretely in awayte, as thes Sir Aggravayne and Sir Mordred.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

     For all that night, the whyles the Prince did rest […] He watcht in close awayt with weapons prest […].

References

1. ↑ “await” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).