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dally - 5 dictionary results

dal⋅ly

  [dal-ee] verb, -lied, -ly⋅ing.
Use dally in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to waste time; loiter; delay.
2. to act playfully, esp. in an amorous or flirtatious way.
3. to play mockingly; trifle: to dally with danger.
–verb (used with object)
4. to waste (time) (usually fol. by away).
Origin:
1250–1300; ME dalien < AF dalier to chat, of uncert. orig.

Related forms:
dal⋅li⋅er, noun
dal⋅ly⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. See loiter. 2. flirt, tease, trifle. 3. toy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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dal·ly   (dāl'ē)   
v.   dal·lied, dal·ly·ing, dal·lies

v.   intr.
  1. To play amorously; flirt: "Sylvester dallied about Lena until he began to make mistakes in his work" (Willa Cather). See Synonyms at flirt.
  2. To trifle; toy.
  3. To waste time; dawdle.
v.   tr.
To waste (time).

[Middle English dalien, from Old French dalier.]
dal'li·er n., dal'ly·ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.

Dally

Dal"ly\, v. t. To delay unnecessarily; to while away.

Dallying off the time with often skirmishes. --Knolles.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : dally
Spanish: tardar,
German: trödeln,
Japanese: ぐずぐずする
More Translations »

dally 
c.1300, possibly from Anglo-Fr. dalier "to amuse oneself," of uncertain origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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