dally

(dăl'ē)

v., -lied, -ly·ing, -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.]

dallier dal'li·er n.
dallyingly dal'ly·ing·ly adv.

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verb

1. To make amorous advances without serious intentions: coquet, flirt, toy, trifle. See sex/asexual.
2. To treat lightly or flippantly: flirt, play, toy, trifle. See work/play.
3. To go or move slowly so that progress is hindered: dawdle, delay, dilly-dally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, poke, procrastinate, tarry, trail. Idioms: drag one'sfeetheels, mark time, take one's time. See fast/slow/velocity.

v

Definition: dawdle, delay
Antonyms: hasten, hurry, push, rush

IN BRIEF: To deal with or treat in a half serious or playful way.

The team was concerned when Lucille was picked to score the crucial point as she had a tendency to dally.

Tutor's tip: Dad liked to "dally" (to waste time) before work with the "daily" (happening every day) newspaper.

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For a list of words related to dally, see:

• Mood and Intent - dally: tarry

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See words rhyming with "dally."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Dally.

Dansk (Danish)
v. intr. - pjanke, fjase
v. tr. - lege med

Nederlands (Dutch)
lanterfanten, treuzelen, stoeien, flirten

Français (French)
v. intr. - lambiner, traîner (sur, dans qch) (arch), badiner (amoureusement) (arch)
v. tr. - traîner sur

Deutsch (German)
v. - bummeln, trödeln, leichtfertig umgehen, tändeln

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - παίζω, αντιμετωπίζω επιπόλαια, χασομερώ

Italiano (Italian)
indugiare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - perder tempo

Русский (Russian)
флиртовать, вынашивать

Español (Spanish)
v. intr. - tardar, perder el tiempo, coquetear
v. tr. - perder el tiempo

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - flirta, söla

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
嬉戏, 轻率的对待, 调情, 游荡, 浪费

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. intr. - 嬉戲, 輕率的對待, 調情, 遊蕩
v. tr. - 浪費

한국어 (Korean)
v. intr. - 장난치다, 빈둥대다
v. tr. - 낭비하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - ふざける, もてあそぶ, ぐずぐずして失う

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يداعب, يعبث‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮התבטל, התמזמז, התעסק, פלירטט, השתעשע‬
v. tr. - ‮דחה‬

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