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- Dictionarydal·ly/ˈdalē/
verb
- 1. act or move slowly: "workers were loafing, dallying, or goofing off" Similar Opposite
- 2. have a casual romantic or sexual liaison with: "he should stop dallying with movie stars" Similar
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1. a. : to act playfully. especially : to play amorously. b. : to deal lightly : toy. accused him of dallying with a serious problem. 2. a. : to waste time. b. : linger, dawdle. dallier noun. Did you know? The Evolution of Dally. English speakers have been playing with dally since the 14th century.
Slow and moving slowly. Phrasal verbs. dally with someone. dally with something. Examples from literature. Blueberries were ripe, and beguiled the pair into many a moment's dallying by the wayside. I dallied over my drink, and then got up and excused myself, saying that I wanted to turn in early.
to waste time; loiter; delay. to act playfully, especially in an amorous or flirtatious way. Synonyms: trifle, tease, flirt to play mockingly; trifle: to dally with danger. Synonyms: toy
Dally means “to waste time.” When you dally, you will cause a delay because of your dawdling. You have probably heard the expression "to dilly- dally " — which means “to dawdle.” Well, if you take the dilly out of dilly-dally to get just dally — you still have pretty much the same meaning.
1. to waste time idly; dawdle. 2. ( usually foll by with) to deal frivolously or lightly with; trifle; toy: to dally with someone's affections. [C14: from Anglo-French dalier to gossip, of uncertain origin] ˈdallier n.
to waste time or do something slowly. See also. dilly-dally old-fashioned informal. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Delaying and wasting time. ado. busywork. buy time idiom. carry something over. dawdle. gridlock. holdup. inefficiency. inefficiently. kept. kick. pigeonhole. push. raincheck. retardation. set someone back (something)
1.verb. If you dally, you act or move very slowly, wasting time. [old-fashioned] The bureaucrats dallied too long. [VERB] He did not dally over the choice of a partner. [VERB + over] [ Also V + with] Synonyms: waste time, delay, fool (about or around), linger More Synonyms of dally. 2.verb.
To deal lightly or carelessly ( with ); trifle; toy. Webster's New World. To consider or occupy oneself with something in a careless or unserious fashion; toy. American Heritage. To dawdle, delay, or linger. Don't dally or we'll miss the train. American Heritage. Similar definitions. To waste time; loiter. Webster's New World. Similar definitions.
dally. to do something too slowly; to take too much time making a decision see also dilly-dally. Definition of dally verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Jun 2, 2024 · dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied) To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle . Synonyms: dawdle, dilly-dally; see also Thesaurus: loiter.
