dally

verb dal·ly \ ˈda-lē \

Definition of dally

dallied; dallying

intransitive verb

1 a :to act playfully; especially :to play amorously

b :to deal lightly :toy

accused him of dallying with a serious problem

2 a :to waste time

b :linger, dawdle

—

dallier

noun

See dally defined for English-language learners

See dally defined for kids

dally was our Word of the Day on 05/20/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of dally in a Sentence

Please don't dally. We need you here right away.
The two of us dallied over our coffee that morning.

Recent Examples of dally from the Web

Redford dilly-dallied with jobs in Milwaukee and improving his land and planting subsistence crops, but his aim was to plant more and more wheat, which could be a money crop.

— fred keller, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Farming was significant in development of Lisbon, Menomonee and Germantown," 25 Aug. 2017
In golf news that doesn’t involve the British Open ... Cameron Champ hasn’t dilly-dallied since his breakout performance at last month’s U.S. Open.

— steve pajak, sacbee, "What’s next for Champ after breakout U.S. Open? Amateur’s drive up rankings continues," 18 July 2017
The U.N. Security Council, the only body that could authorize an independent criminal investigation into their deaths, has yet to take that step, and the Congolese government has dallied in its own investigation.

— max bearak, Washington Post, "Massacres and mutilations in Congo have left more than 3,000 dead since October, reports say," 23 June 2017
After dallying in fresh water for more than two weeks, the whales made a final dash for the ocean Tuesday, moving through San Pablo Bay at a brisk 5 miles per hour.

— sacbee, sacbee.com, "Delta, Dawn visit Port of Sacramento," 11 May 2017
In 1986, Charles resumed his love affair with Camilla Parker Bowles; Diana dallied elsewhere.

— william boyd, New York Times, "A Kinder, Gentler Portrait of Prince Charles," 10 May 2017
The second gallery groups together stars, like Mr. Salle, with others, including Joyce Pensato, overlooked until recently, who dallied in the images of popular culture, pulling its meanings in provocative directions.

— roberta smith, New York Times, "Painting From the 1980s, When Brash Met Flash," 9 Feb. 2017
Three dallied with Charles II (1630-85), a compulsive philanderer whose amorous activities produced more than a quarter of the 26 dukedoms in Great Britain and Ireland.

— olivia b. waxman, Time, "What to Know About the Royal Blood in Princess Diana's Family," 1 Jan. 1950

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dally.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Evolution of dally

English speakers have been playing with different uses of dally since the 14th century. They first started using the word with the meaning "to chat," which was also the meaning of the Anglo-French word from which it was derived, but that meaning fell into disuse by the end of the 15th century. Next, dalliers were amusing themselves by acting playfully with each other especially in amorous and flirtatious ways. Apparently, some dalliers were also a bit derisive, leading dally to mean "to deal with lightly or in a way that is not serious." It didn't take long for the fuddy-duddies to criticize all this play as a waste of time. By the mid-16th century, dally was weighted down with its "to waste time" and "dawdle" meanings, which, in time, gave way to the word dillydally, a humorous reduplication of dally.

Origin and Etymology of dally

Middle English dalyen, from Anglo-French dalier

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First Known Use: 15th century

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dally Synonyms

Synonyms

play, disport, frolic, recreate, rollick, skylark, sport, toy

Antonyms

barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz (or whizz), zip

Related Words

cavort, frisk, gambol, romp; dabble, trifle; amuse, divert, entertain; delight, please; dabble, fiddle (around), mess around, putter (around); bum (around), dawdle, goldbrick, hang, hang about [British], idle, loaf, lounge (around or about), relax, rest, screw around, slack (off); jest, joke, tease

Near Antonyms

drudge, labor, plod, plug (away), slave, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, work

Synonym Discussion of dally

trifle, toy, dally, flirt, coquet mean to deal with or act toward without serious purpose. trifle may imply playfulness, unconcern, indulgent contempt.

- to trifle with a lover's feelings

toy implies acting without full attention or serious exertion of one's powers.

- a political novice toying with great issues

dally suggests indulging in thoughts or plans merely as an amusement.

- dallying with the idea of building a boat someday

flirt implies an interest or attention that soon passes to another object.

- flirted with one fashionable ism after another

coquet implies attracting interest or admiration without serious intention.

- companies that coquet with environmentalism solely for public relations

delay, procrastinate, lag, loiter, dawdle, dally mean to move or act slowly so as to fall behind. delay usually implies a putting off of something (such as a beginning or departure).

- we cannot delay any longer

procrastinate implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy.

- procrastinates about making decisions

lag implies failure to maintain a speed set by others.

- lagging behind in technology

loiter and dawdle imply delay while in progress, especially in walking, but dawdle more clearly suggests an aimless wasting of time.

- loitered at several store windows
- children dawdling on their way home from school

dally suggests delay through trifling or vacillation when promptness is necessary.

- stop dallying and get to work

DALLY Defined for English Language Learners

dally

verb

Definition of dally for English Language Learners

: to do something slowly or too slowly

DALLY Defined for Kids

dally

verb dal·ly \ ˈda-lē \

Definition of dally for Students

dallied; dallying

1 :to act playfully

Boys and girls dallied at the dance.

2 :to waste time

I dallied at my desk and didn't finish my homework.

3 :linger 1, dawdle

Don't dally on your way home.

Learn More about dally

See words that rhyme with dally Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for dally Spanish Central: Translation of dally Nglish: Translation of dally for Spanish speakers

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dally

Definition of dally

dallier

From the M-W Editors

dally was our Word of the Day on 05/20/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of dally in a Sentence

Recent Examples of dally from the Web

The Evolution of dally

Origin and Etymology of dally

dally Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

Synonym Discussion of dally

Phrases Related to DALLY

Related Phrases

DALLY Defined for English Language Learners

dally

Definition of dally for English Language Learners

DALLY Defined for Kids

dally

Definition of dally for Students

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