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delay - 6 dictionary results

de⋅lay

  [di-ley]
Use delay in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to put off to a later time; defer; postpone: The pilot delayed the flight until the weather cleared.
2. to impede the process or progress of; retard; hinder: The dense fog delayed the plane's landing.
–verb (used without object)
3. to put off action; linger; loiter: He delayed until it was too late.
–noun
4. the act of delaying; procrastination; loitering.
5. an instance of being delayed: There were many delays during the train trip.
6. the period or amount of time during which something is delayed: The ballet performance began after a half-hour delay.
Origin:
1225–75; ME delaien (v.), delai(e) (n.) < OF delaier (v.), delai (n.)

Related forms:
de⋅lay⋅a⋅ble, adjective
de⋅lay⋅er, noun
de⋅lay⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. See defer 1 . 2. slow, detain. 3. procrastinate, tarry. 4. tarrying, dawdling. 5. deferment, postponement, respite.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To delay
de·lay   (dĭ-lā')   
v.   de·layed, de·lay·ing, de·lays

v.   tr.
  1. To postpone until a later time; defer.
  2. To cause to be later or slower than expected or desired: Heavy traffic delayed us.
v.   intr.
To act or move slowly; put off an action or a decision.
n.  
  1. The act of delaying; postponement: responded without delay.
  2. The condition of being delayed; detainment.
  3. The period of time during which one is delayed.
  4. The interval of time between two events.

[Middle English delaien, from Anglo-Norman delaier, from Old French deslaier : des-, de- + laier, to leave, of Germanic origin; see leip- in Indo-European roots.]
de·lay'er n.
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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Delay

De*lay"\, n.; pl. Delays. [F. d['e]lai, fr. OF. deleer to delay, or fr. L. dilatum, which, though really from a different root, is used in Latin only as a p. p. neut. of differre to carry apart, defer, delay. See Tolerate, and cf. Differ, Delay, v.] A putting off or deferring; procrastination; lingering inactivity; stop; detention; hindrance.

Without any delay, on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat. --Acts xxv. 17.

The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day. --Macaulay.

Delay

De*lay"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Delaying.] [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun d['e]lai, or directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer, Dilate.]

1. To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the time of or before.

My lord delayeth his coming. --Matt. xxiv. 48.

2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time; to retard the motion, or time of arrival, of; as, the mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow.

Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. --Milton.

3. To allay; to temper. [Obs.]

The watery showers delay the raging wind. --Surrey.

Delay

De*lay"\, v. i. To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry.

There seem to be certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of those ideas, . . . beyond which they can neither delay nor hasten. --Locke.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : delay
Spanish: aplazar, retrasar,
German: verschieben,
Japanese: 延ばす
More Translations »

delay 
c.1275, from O.Fr. delaier, from de- "away, from" + laier "leave, let," probably a variant of L. laissier, from L. laxare "slacken, undo."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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