A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase wait on someone—
1
. serve people in a restaurant, shop,
etc.: Duties include setting tables, serving food, waiting on
customers and any other tasks required. 2. (of a butler, nurse,
etc.) attend on a person: She was an earnest church worker and
was at all times to be found calling and waiting on the sick.
wait up for someone —
1
. stay late out of bed until smb.
arrives: I may be late, but please don’t wait up for me. 2. =
wait for someone 3: They were able to keep up a steady pace,
with only a minimal amount of the stop and go that happens
when the faster riders wait up for the slower ones.
wait for the dust to settle • wait for the ink to dry
wait for the dust to settle —wait for things to calm down;
avoid undertaking smth. because things are too chaotic: Fear-
ful for their lives, many leaders have scattered, waiting in exile
for the dust to settle.
wait for the ink to dry —not be in a rush to do smth.; take
one’s time: It is a little too early yet to reveal all the details
and I have learned it is best to wait for the ink to dry before
you say too much.
wake sleeping dogs • wake snakes
wake sleeping dogs —(also: wake a sleeping dog ) create trouble
interfering with a precarious situation which is quiet: Some
say that it is too early to fix any rules, or that it is really dan-
gerous to do so: it might wake sleeping dogs. Cf.: let sleeping
dogs lie — refrain from stirring up potential trouble: How many
times had he told her it was over, that she needed to move on
and let sleeping dogs lie?
wake snakes —(dated sl.) cause trouble or disturbance: But
what about some phrases that we don’t hear very often any-
more? I found some of these quite interesting. To wake snakes,
meant to raise a ruckus.