diff --git a/docs/man/zfsbootmenu.7.rst b/docs/man/zfsbootmenu.7.rst
index 61e26a60c..0bc81a2f6 100644
--- a/docs/man/zfsbootmenu.7.rst
+++ b/docs/man/zfsbootmenu.7.rst
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ These options are set on the kernel command line when booting the initramfs or U
     If a literal *!!* has been appended to the pool name, ZFSBootMenu will insist on successfully importing the named pool and no others.
 
 
-**zbm.import_delay=<time>**
+**zbm.retry_delay=<time>**
 
-  Should ZFSBootMenu fail to successfully import any pool, it will repeat import attempts indefinitely until at least one pool can be imported or the user chooses to drop to a recovery shell. Each subsequent attempt will proceed after a delay of **<time>** seconds. When **<time>** is unspecified or is anything other than a positive integer, a default value of 5 seconds will be used.
+  This option determines the interval between repeated attempts of required steps. When **<time>** is unspecified or is anything other than a positive integer, a default value of 5 seconds will be used. Should ZFSBootMenu fail to successfully import any pool, it will repeat import attempts indefinitely until at least one pool can be imported or the user chooses to drop to a recovery shell. Additionally, should any required devices be configured via **zbm.wait_for**, device checks will repeat on this interval.
 
 **zbm.import_policy**
 
@@ -143,13 +143,13 @@ These options are set on the kernel command line when booting the initramfs or U
 
   Enable automatic font resizing of the kernel console to normalize the apparent resolution for both low resolution and high resolution displays. This option is enabled by default.
 
-**zbm.waitfor=device,device,...**
+**zbm.wait_for=device,device,...**
 
   Ensure that one or more devices are present before starting the pool import process. Devices may be specified as full paths to device nodes (*e.g.*, **/dev/sda** or **/dev/disk/by-id/wwn-0x500a07510ee65912**) or, for convenience, as a typed indicator of the form **TYPE=VALUE**, which will be expanded internally as
   
     **/dev/disk/by-TYPE/VALUE**
 
-  The use of full device paths other than descendants of **/dev/disk/** is fragile and should be avoided.
+  The use of full device paths other than descendants of **/dev/disk/** is fragile and should be avoided. The delay interval between device checks can be controlled by **zbm.retry_delay**.
 
 Deprecated Parameters
 ---------------------
@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ Deprecated Parameters
 
   Deprecated; use **zbm.import_policy=force**.
 
+**zbm.import_delay**
+
+  Deprecated; use **zbm.retry_delay**
 
 .. _zfs-properties:
 
diff --git a/zfsbootmenu/libexec/zfsbootmenu-init b/zfsbootmenu/libexec/zfsbootmenu-init
index be8d27c17..b346f3c29 100755
--- a/zfsbootmenu/libexec/zfsbootmenu-init
+++ b/zfsbootmenu/libexec/zfsbootmenu-init
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ fi
 
 # Wait for devices to show up
 
-if [ -n "${zbm_waitfor_devices}" ]; then
-  IFS=',' read -r -a user_devices <<<"${zbm_waitfor_devices}"
+if [ -n "${zbm_wait_for_devices}" ]; then
+  IFS=',' read -r -a user_devices <<<"${zbm_wait_for_devices}"
   while true; do
     FOUND=0
     EXPECTED=0
@@ -116,8 +116,8 @@ if [ -n "${zbm_waitfor_devices}" ]; then
     if [ ${FOUND} -eq ${EXPECTED} ]; then
       break
     else
-      if ! timed_prompt -d 3 -e "to cancel" \
-          -m "" \
+      if ! timed_prompt -d "${zbm_retry_delay:-5}" \
+          -e "to cancel" -m "" \
           -m "$( colorize red "One or more required devices are missing" )" \
           -p "retrying in $( colorize yellow "%0.2d" ) seconds" ; then
         for dev in "${missing[@]}" ; do
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ while true; do
   zinfo "unable to import a pool on attempt ${zbm_import_attempt}"
 
   # Just keep retrying after a delay until the user presses ESC
-  if timed_prompt -d "${zbm_import_delay:-5}" \
+  if timed_prompt -d "${zbm_retry_delay:-5}" \
     -p "Unable to import $( colorize magenta "${try_pool:-pool}" ), retrying in $( colorize yellow "%0.2d" ) seconds" \
     -r "to retry immediately" \
     -e "for a recovery shell"; then
diff --git a/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-parse-commandline.sh b/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-parse-commandline.sh
index b3dfa77f0..e15626e9e 100755
--- a/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-parse-commandline.sh
+++ b/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-parse-commandline.sh
@@ -127,11 +127,11 @@ else
   zinfo "defaulting menu timeout to ${menu_timeout}"
 fi
 
-if zbm_import_delay=$( get_zbm_arg zbm.import_delay ) && [ "${zbm_import_delay:-0}" -gt 0 ] 2>/dev/null ; then
-  # Again, this validates that zbm_import_delay is numeric in addition to logging
-  zinfo "import retry delay is ${zbm_import_delay} seconds"
+if zbm_retry_delay=$( get_zbm_arg zbm.retry_delay zbm.import_delay ) && [ "${zbm_retry_delay:-0}" -gt 0 ] 2>/dev/null ; then
+  # Again, this validates that zbm_retry_delay is numeric in addition to logging
+  zinfo "import/waitfor retry delay is ${zbm_retry_delay} seconds"
 else
-  zbm_import_delay=5
+  zbm_retry_delay=5
 fi
 
 # Allow setting of console size; ensure lines/columns are integers > 0
@@ -226,9 +226,9 @@ if zbm_prefer_pool=$( get_zbm_arg zbm.prefer ) ; then
   zinfo "preferring ${zbm_prefer_pool} for bootfs"
 fi
 
-zbm_waitfor_devices=
-if zbm_waitfor_devices=$( get_zbm_arg zbm.waitfor ) ; then
-  zinfo "system will wait for ${zbm_waitfor_devices}"
+zbm_wait_for_devices=
+if zbm_wait_for_devices=$( get_zbm_arg zbm.wait_for ) ; then
+  zinfo "system will wait for ${zbm_wait_for_devices}"
 fi
 
 # pool! : this pool must be imported before all others
diff --git a/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-preinit.sh b/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-preinit.sh
index 12e2d9bc2..37f28dbc2 100755
--- a/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-preinit.sh
+++ b/zfsbootmenu/pre-init/zfsbootmenu-preinit.sh
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ export zbm_require_pool='${zbm_require_pool}'
 export default_hostid=00bab10c
 export zbm_sort='${zbm_sort}'
 export zbm_set_hostid='${zbm_set_hostid}'
-export zbm_import_delay='${zbm_import_delay}'
+export zbm_retry_delay='${zbm_retry_delay}'
 export zbm_hook_root='${zbm_hook_root}'
-export zbm_waitfor_devices='${zbm_waitfor_devices}'
+export zbm_wait_for_devices='${zbm_wait_for_devices}'
 export control_term='${control_term}'
 # END additions by zfsbootmenu-preinit.sh
 EOF