dally
See also: Dally
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English dalyen, from Anglo-Norman delaier. Doublet of delay.
Verb edit
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
- c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
- I wish, grave governor, 'twere in my power / To favour you; but 'tis my father's cause, / Wherein I may not, nay, I dare not dally.
- a. 1692, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance:
- […] after we by our presumptuous delays have put off God, and dallied with his grace; […]
- a. 1726, Benjamin Calamy, “A Sermon Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday”, in J. Calamy, editor, Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions:
- […] we have trifled too long already about a matter of such infinite moment, it is perfect Madness to dally any longer. […]
- (transitive, intransitive) To caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet
- Synonyms: feel up, grope, touch up; see also Thesaurus:fondle
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 191, column 2:
- Not dallying with a Brace of Curtizans,
- To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
- Synonym: kill time
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to waste time
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to interchange caresses
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to delay unnecessarily
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Etymology 2 edit
Possibly from Spanish dale la vuelta (“twist it around”) by law of Hobson-Jobson, from dale + la + vuelta.
Noun edit
dally (plural dallies)
- Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in roping.
- 1947, Bruce Kiskaddon, Rhymes and Ranches:
- What matters is now if he tied hard and fast, / Or tumbled his steer with a dally.
Verb edit
dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied)
- To wind the lasso rope (ie throw-rope) around the saddle horn (the saddle horn is attached to the pommel of a western style saddle) after the roping of an animal
- 2003, Jameson Parker, An Accidental Cowboy, page 89:
- The end of the top rope he dallied around the gooseneck trailer hitch.
Etymology 3 edit
Noun edit
dally (plural dallies)
- (India) Alternative form of dolly (“offering of fruit or flowers”)
- 1872, J. Frederick Pogson, Indian Gardening, page 19:
- We have known Mazagon and long-pod Beans to be thrown out of a dally, because they were full of seed!