Defining 控える and 控えている

Question

控える as far as I can tell behaves more predictably than 控えている in that it generally seems to mean "to refrain" and "to make notes" (as in 電話番号を控える.)

However, 控えている seems to mean many more things including "expecting (a baby)", "to be soon", "waiting (for)", "facing", "contend with" and "abstain from":

彼女は出産を控えているの？
Is she expecting （a child）?

ちょうど1年後に控えている
be just a year away.

使者が次の間に控えている
The messenger is waiting in the next room.

彼の別荘は後ろに山を控えている
There is a mountain behind his country cottage.

その会社には幾多の難問題が控えている
The company has many difficulties to contend with.

彼は健康上の理由から肉を控えている。
He abstains from meat for health reasons.

Would I be able to ask how to define 控える and 控えている, how they have come to mean so many things and whether there's a way of determining what 控えている means in a given context?

Answer 1

Found two dictionaries: goo and alc. (Any good Japanese-English dictionaries that I can reference here? I always use a Japanese-Japanese one. The translation are not very good. However, the examples in alc are excellent, though not 100% correct.)

The meaning of 控える can be "waiting/saying behind(for something)", or "to refrain", or "to make notes", or more. And 控えている is formed by 控え+ている, and "ている" here means something like "in the state of".

As for the examples:

ちょうど1年後に控えている
be just a year away（主語を）

It means the phrase can be used as "卒業を*ちょうど一年後に控えている", "*Graduation is just a year away".

Answer 2

With or without ている, the core meaning does not change. It means 'waiting/staying behind (for something)'