Wiktionary

delay

See also: Delay

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dally.

Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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delay (countable and uncountable, plural delays)

  1. A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
    the delay before the echo of a sound
  2. (music) An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
    • 2014, Dave Hunter, Guitar Amps and Effects For Dummies, page 259:
      The 8-bit sound quality of many early delays did indeed leave a lot to be desired (compare this to the 16-bit digital technology of CDs)
  3. (programming, Clojure) Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”)
  4. (chess) An amount of time provided on each move before one's clock starts to tick; a less common time control than increment.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Portuguese: delay
Translations
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Verb

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delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To put off until a later time; to defer.
  2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
    The mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To allay; to temper.
    • a. 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The faithful Lover declareth his Pains and his uncertain Joys, and with only Hope recomforteth somewhat his woful Heart:
      The watery showers delay the raging wind.
Usage notes
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Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English delaien, from Old French delaiier, a variant of delaissier.

Verb

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delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

  1. (obsolete) To dilute, temper.
  2. (obsolete) To assuage, quench, allay.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Maranao

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Noun

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delay

  1. Job's tears

References

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English delay.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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delay m (plural delays)

  1. (posh, except in technical contexts) delay (period of time before an event being initiated and actually occurring)
    Synonym: atraso
  2. (audio engineering) delay (effect that produces echo-like repetitions in sound)
  3. (audio engineering) delay (unit that produces a delay effect)
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