Meaning
Poised and ready to step in, take over or take part the moment the chance appears; said of successors, substitutes, products or ideas not yet on public display. The image is of an actor standing just offstage, ready for an entrance, and the phrase is especially common in politics and business journalism. Neutral and slightly journalistic; often hints that the waiting party is ambitious or that a change is imminent. Regional use: General English (theatrical origin).
Origin
The literal basis is secure: the wings are the side-scenes flanking a stage, out of the audience's sight, where actors wait for their cues before making an entrance; Etymonline dates this theatrical sense of 'wings' to 1790. Farlex's idiom dictionary defines the figurative use, being ready while waiting to help or replace someone, and notes the literal theatrical practice behind it. What the standard references checked do not supply is a firm first date for the figurative use, so any precise year given for it elsewhere would be conjecture; the transfer from theatre to politics and business clearly came after the literal sense was established, and the idiom shares its logic with the understudy system, in which the next performer stands closest to the action they will join.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- in the wings
- lurking in the wings
- wait in the wings
- waiting in the wings for someone
Usage Examples
- If the coach is sacked before Christmas, two younger candidates are waiting in the wings.
- The company has a cheaper tablet waiting in the wings should holiday sales disappoint.
- Succession went smoothly because a deputy had been waiting in the wings for years.