How to wait 5 seconds with jQuery?

Built in javascript setTimeout.

setTimeout(
  function() 
  {
    //do something special
  }, 5000);

UPDATE: you want to wait since when the page has finished loading, so put that code inside your $(document).ready(...); script.

UPDATE 2: jquery 1.4.0 introduced the .delay method. Check it out. Note that .delay only works with the jQuery effects queues.

Use a normal javascript timer:

$(function(){
   function show_popup(){
      $("#message").slideUp();
   };
   window.setTimeout( show_popup, 5000 ); // 5 seconds
});

This will wait 5 seconds after the DOM is ready. If you want to wait until the page is actually loaded you need to use this:

$(window).load(function(){
   function show_popup(){
      $("#message").slideUp();
   };
   window.setTimeout( show_popup, 5000 ); // 5 seconds
})

EDIT: In answer to the OP's comment asking if there is a way to do it in jQuery and not use setTimeout the answer is no. But if you wanted to make it more "jQueryish" you could wrap it like this:

$.wait = function( callback, seconds){
   return window.setTimeout( callback, seconds * 1000 );
}

You could then call it like this:

$.wait( function(){ $("#message").slideUp() }, 5);

I ran across this question and I thought I'd provide an update on this topic. jQuery (v1.5+) includes a Deferred model, which (despite not adhering to the Promises/A spec until jQuery 3) is generally regarded as being a clearer way to approach many asynchronous problems. Implementing a $.wait() method using this approach is particularly readable I believe:

$.wait = function(ms) {
    var defer = $.Deferred();
    setTimeout(function() { defer.resolve(); }, ms);
    return defer;
};

And here's how you can use it:

$.wait(5000).then(disco);

However if, after pausing, you only wish to perform actions on a single jQuery selection, then you should be using jQuery's native .delay() which I believe also uses Deferred's under the hood:

$(".my-element").delay(5000).fadeIn();