Definition

1. Verb:
   • To wait around / to cool one's heels: To wait for a long time, often idly and with a sense of impatience or servility, for an audience, a favor, or an opportunity.
   • To attend upon / to be in constant attendance: To stay close by someone, especially a superior or a sick person, in order to serve, care for, or be ready for orders.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ta phải chầu chực cả buổi trước cửa phòng giám đốc. (He had to cool his heels for the whole morning in front of the director's office.)
  • Các con luôn chầu chực bên giường khi mẹ ốm. (The children were constantly in attendance by the bed when their mother was ill.)
  • Việc không quan trọng gì mà bắt tôi chầu chực suốt chiều. (It was no important matter, yet they made me wait around the whole afternoon.)

Advanced Usage

• The word often carries a connotation of subservience, tedious waiting, or being at someone's beck and call. It implies a passive state of expectation rather than active engagement.

Variants and Related Words

• Chờ đợi (v): to wait. This is a more general and neutral term for waiting.
• Hầu hạ (v): to serve, to attend upon. This focuses more on the act of service rather than the waiting aspect.

Synonyms

• Linger: to stay in a place longer than necessary.
• Lounge around: to wait or spend time in a relaxed, idle way.
• Stand by: to be ready and waiting.

Related Idioms

• Chầu chực như mắc tội: To wait around as if one has committed a crime. This idiom emphasizes the uncomfortable, anxious, or guilty feeling associated with the long wait.
  • Cứ phải chầu chực ở ngoài như mắc tội. (I had to wait around outside as if I had committed a crime.)

1. To attend upon (a mandarin..)
2. To cool one's heels
   • việc chẳng có gì mà bắt người ta phải chầu chực suốt buổi chiều
     it was no matter of importance, still they had to cool their heels for a whole afternoon