Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To waste time, especially in indecision; dawdle or vacillate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To loiter; delay; trifle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To loiter or trifle; to waste time.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to
dawdle ; to waste time; toprocrastinate
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb postpone doing what one should be doing
- verb postpone doing what one should be doing
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He would push us to resolution and not dilly-dally around, as though someone else needed to help the children and the aged, the orphans and the widowed.
Donna Schaper: A Jesus Look At The Issues Du Jour Donna Schaper 2011
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Don't dilly-dally with yanking up your pants anymore.
Cator Sparks: Rise Up, Men, to the Glorious High-Waisted Pant! Cator Sparks 2011
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So there, it's settled you're off to napa valley - you best confirm those eligible reservations, don't dilly-dally!
Alexis Swanson Traina: Love in the Vineyards Alexis Swanson Traina 2011
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It likewise manifests the frankness of men who do not dilly-dally with terms, but who say what they mean, and who mean to settle down to a long, hard fight.
THE CLASS STRUGGLE 2010
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So there, it's settled you're off to napa valley - you best confirm those eligible reservations, don't dilly-dally!
Alexis Swanson Traina: Love in the Vineyards Alexis Swanson Traina 2011
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Let's not dilly-dally, let's get straight on into the funny, shall we?
Friday Pix 01flux 2009
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Don't dilly-dally with yanking up your pants anymore.
Cator Sparks: Rise Up, Men, to the Glorious High-Waisted Pant! Cator Sparks 2011
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He would push us to resolution and not dilly-dally around, as though someone else needed to help the children and the aged, the orphans and the widowed.
Donna Schaper: A Jesus Look At The Issues Du Jour Donna Schaper 2011
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Don't dilly-dally with yanking up your pants anymore.
Cator Sparks: Rise Up, Men, to the Glorious High-Waisted Pant! Cator Sparks 2011
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Although perhaps it is more important for a poet to be "companionable" than to dilly-dally around so much with words and stuff, more important to offer "something born of blood and emotion" (as if Stevens's poems don't contain emotion -- has Wiman read "The Death of a Soldier"?) than to write skillful and provocative poems.
Poetry 2010
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