Meanings of waited the moment in English

The colonists raised their pieces and waited the moment to fire.

Judge with what impatience we waited the moment of sleep, to see if our friend would return, and visit us in our slumbers.

He did not go back to Mrs. Arlington, but with an eagerness on his face, waited the moment when Patsy should be free.

But the coming drama was so peculiarly different in promise from all he had experienced, that he waited the moment of action with thrilling intensity.