dilly dally
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dilly-dally — ► VERB (dilly dallies, dilly dallied) informal ▪ dawdle or vacillate. ORIGIN reduplication of DALLY(Cf. ↑dally) … English terms dictionary
dilly-dally — 1741, probably a reduplication of DALLY (Cf. dally) … Etymology dictionary
dilly-dally — dil ly dal ly, v. i. [See {Dally}.] To loiter or trifle; to waste time. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
dilly-dally — [v] waste time dawdle, delay, hem and haw*, hesitate, linger, loiter, meander, mosey, move slowly, procrastinate, vacillate; concepts 151,210,681 … New thesaurus
dilly-dally — UK [ˈdɪlɪ ˌdælɪ] / US [ˌdɪlɪˈdælɪ] verb [intransitive] Word forms dilly dally : present tense I/you/we/they dilly dally he/she/it dilly dallies present participle dilly dallying past tense dilly dallied past participle dilly dallied informal old… … English dictionary
dilly-dally — dil|ly dal|ly [ˈdıli ˌdæli] v past tense and past participle dilly dallied present participle dilly dallying third person singular dilly dallies [I] [Date: 1700 1800; Origin: dally] to waste time, because you cannot decide about something ▪ Don t … Dictionary of contemporary English
dilly-dally — verb, informal we can t dilly dally when there are critical decisions to be made Syn: waste time, dally, dawdle, loiter, linger, take one s time, delay, temporize, stall, procrastinate, pussyfoot around, drag one s feet; dither, hesitate, falter … Thesaurus of popular words
dilly-dally — go very slowly, pause too much Sarah, you come straight home from school. Don t dilly dally … English idioms
dilly-dally — verb (I) informal to waste time, because you cannot decide about something: Don t dilly dally, just get on with it! … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
dilly-dally — in. to waste time. □ Stop dillydallying around. □ I like to dilly dally over a cup of coffee … Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions
