Meaning
lit. and primarily, "to take or receive from" (ek, "from," dechomai, "to receive"), hence denotes "to await, expect," the only sense of the word in the NT; it suggests a reaching out in readiness to receive something; "expecting," Heb 10:13; "expect," 1Co 16:11, RV (AV, "look for"); to wait for, Joh 5:3 (AV only); Act 17:16, 1Co 11:33, RV (AV, "tarry for"); Jam 5:7; to wait, 1Pe 3:20 in some mss.; "looked for," Heb 11:10. Cp. B, No. 1. See LOOK, TARRY, WAIT.
"to watch toward, to look for, expect" (pros, "toward," dokeo, "to think:" dokao "does not exist"), is translated "expecting" in Mat 24:50, Luk 12:46, RV (AV, "looketh for"); Luk 3:15, "were in expectation;" Act 3:5, "expecting" (AV and RV); Act 28:6 (twice), "expected that," RV (AV, "looked when") and "when they were long in expectation" (AV, "after they had looked a great while"). See LOOK, TARRY, WAIT.
primarily "a watching with outstretched head" (apo, "from," kara, "the head," and dokeo, "to look, to watch"), signifies "strained expectancy, eager longing," the stretching forth of the head indicating an "expectation" of something from a certain place, Rom 8:19, Phi 1:20. The prefix apo suggests "abstraction and absorption" (Lightfoot), i.e., abstraction from anything else that might engage the attention, and absorption in the object expected "till the fulfillment is realized" (Alford). The intensive character of the noun, in comparsion with No. 2 (below), is clear from the contexts; in Rom 8:19 it is said figuratively of the creation as waiting for the revealing of the sons of God ("waiting" translates the verb apekdechomai, a strengthened form of A, No. 1; see WAIT FOR). In Phi 1:20 the Apostle states it as his "earnest expectation" and hope, that, instead of being put to shame, Christ shall be magnified in his body, "whether by life, or by death," suggesting absorption in the person of Christ, abstraction from aught that hinders.
"a watching for, expectation" (akin to A, No. 2, which see), is used in the NT only of the "expectation" of evil, Luk 21:26, RV, "expectation," AV, "looking for," regarding impending calamities; Act 12:11, "the expectation" of the execution of Peter.
primarily "a receiving from," hence "expectation" (akin to A, No. 1), is used in Heb 10:27 (RV, "expectation;" AV, "looking for"), of judgment.
