expect [M16th] First meaning ‘to wait for’, expect entered English from Latin exspectare ‘to look out for’, from spectare ‘to look’. Spectare is also the source of spectacle and many other English words (see species). ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’ was the British admiral Lord Nelson’s memorable last signal to his fleet before the Battle of Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805.