lollygag

English

WOTD – 24 April 2006

Alternative forms

• lallygag

Etymology

Unknown. Cited as American slang from 1934 and attested since at least 1889.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɒlɪɡæɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

lollygag (third-person singular simple present lollygags, present participle lollygagging, simple past and past participle lollygagged)

1. (US) To dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort.

   Synonyms: dawdle, shirk, slack, procrastinate; see also Thesaurus:shirk

   • 1993, Secret of Mana (fantasy):

     Stop lollygagging! […] He ate ALL the ship's food! 'Zat your friend? Show him outta here!

2. (US, dated, 19th-20th centuries) To fool around, especially sexually.
   • 1946, Captain C. F. Behrens, MC, USN, quoted in Time Magazine, volume 47, part 1, page 74, 1946:

     Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden. […] The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES, corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline. […]

Translations

dawdle; to avoid work

• Czech: lelkovat (cs), chytat lelky (cs)
• Dutch: lanterfanten (nl), treuzelen (nl)
• French: paresser (fr), glandouiller (fr), glander (fr)
• German: trödeln (de), schlampen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ῥαθυμέω (rhathuméō)

• Polish: bałamucić (pl) impf, zbałamucić (pl) pf
• Russian: бездельничать (ru) (bezdelʹničatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: ljenčariti (sh), lenstvovati (sh), besposličariti (sh)

Noun

lollygag (uncountable)

1. (US) Silliness, nonsense.

   He likes to do his car up with blacked-out windows, and all that lollygag.

Translations

silliness

• French: absurdité (fr) f
• German: Unsinn (de) m
• Serbo-Croatian: bedastoća f