Adjacent Words

Dally definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DAL'LY, v.i.
1. Literally, to delay; to linger; to wait. Hence.
2. To trifle; to lose time in idleness and trifles; to amuse one's self with idle play.
It is madness to dally any longer. Calamy.
3. To toy and wanton, as man and woman; to interchange caresses; to fondle.
4. To sport; to play.
She dallies with the wind. Shak.
DAL'LY, v.t. To delay; to defer; to put off; to amuse till a proper opportunity; as, to dally off the time.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: behave carelessly or indifferently; "Play about with a young girl's affection" [syn: dally, toy, play, flirt]
2: waste time; "Get busy--don't dally!" [syn: dally, dawdle]
3: talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions; "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women" [syn: chat up, flirt, dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, romance, philander, mash]
4: consider not very seriously; "He is trifling with her"; "She plays with the thought of moving to Tasmania" [syn: dally, trifle, play]

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb (dallied; dallying) Etymology: Middle English dalyen, from Anglo-French dalier Date: 15th century 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 Synonyms: see trifle, delay • dallier noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. (-ies, -ied) 1 delay; waste time, esp. frivolously. 2 (often foll. by with) play about; flirt, treat frivolously (dallied with her affections). Phrases and idioms: dally away waste or fritter (one's time, life, etc.). Etymology: ME f. OF dalier chat

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dally Dal"ly, v. t. To delay unnecessarily; to while away. Dallying off the time with often skirmishes. --Knolles.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dally Dal"ly, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dallied; p. pr. & vb. n. Dallying.] [OE. ?alien, dailien; cf. Icel. pylja to talk, G. dallen, dalen, dahlen, to trifle, talk nonsense, OSw. tule a droll or funny man; or AS. dol foolish, E. dull.] 1. To waste time in effeminate or voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to fool away time; to delay unnecessarily; to tarry; to trifle. We have trifled too long already; it is madness to dally any longer. --Calamy. We have put off God, and dallied with his grace. --Barrow. 2. To interchange caresses, especially with one of the opposite sex; to use fondling; to wanton; to sport. Not dallying with a brace of courtesans. --Shak. Our aerie . . . dallies with the wind. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dallies, dallying, dallied) 1. If you dally, you act or move very slowly, wasting time. (OLD-FASHIONED) The bureaucrats dallied too long... He did not dally over the choice of a partner. VERB: V, V over n/-ing, also V with n 2. If someone dallies with you, they have a romantic, but not serious, relationship with you. (OLD-FASHIONED) In the past he dallied with actresses and lady novelists. VERB: V with n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dal'-i: Occurs in The Wisdom of Solomon 12:26: "But they that would not be reformed by that correction wherein he dallied with them" (paigniois epitimeseos, "child play of correction"), the reference being to the earlier and lighter plagues of Egypt; Version (British and American) renders "by a mocking correction as of children," "by a correction which was as children's play," Greek (as above). He first tried them by those lighter inflictions before sending on them the heavier. In later usage "daily" implies delay.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Trifle, dawdle, lose time, waste time, idle away time, fritter away time. 2. Fondle, toy, interchange caresses.

Moby Thesaurus

abide, await, bide, bide the issue, bill and coo, caress, copulate, coquet, cosset, cuddle, dabble, dally away, dandle, dawdle, delay, diddle, diddle away, dillydally, doodle, drag, dribble away, drivel away, falter, fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, finger with, flag, flirt, fondle, fool, fool around, fool away, fool with, fribble, fritter away, frivol, frolic, gambol, goof off, halt, hang about, hang around, hold everything, hold on, hold your horses, horse around, idle, idle away, jerk off, kid around, lag, lead on, linger, loiter, lollygag, make love, make out, mark time, mess around, monkey, monkey around, muddle away, neck, pet, piddle, piss away, play, play around, play with, poke, potter, potter away, procrastinate, put off, putter, rollick, romp, shilly-shally, sit tight, sit up, smatter, smooch, spoon, sport, stay, stay up, stick around, string along, sweet-talk, take time, tarry, tinker, toy, toy with, trail, trifle, trifle away, twiddle, wait, wait a minute, wait and see, wanton, waste time, while away, whisper sweet nothings