dally

1 to engage in activity for amusement he spent his college years dallying, seemingly determined to acquire as little knowledge as possible Synonyms play, disport, frolic, recreate, rollick, skylark, sport, toyRelated 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, teaseNear Antonyms drudge, labor, plod, plug (away), slave, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, work

2 to move or act slowly don't dally on the way to the interview Synonyms crawl, creep, delay, dawdle, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarryRelated Words fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle; hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge; amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll; decelerate, slow (down or up); filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporizeNear Antonyms bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede; gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot; accelerate, quicken, speed (up); catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtakeAntonyms 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

3 to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun she spent the summer dallying with a guy renting the neighboring beach house Synonyms coquet (or coquette), flirt, frivol, mess around, toy, trifleRelated Words vamp; court, mash, woo; josh, kid, put on, razz, rib, tease; fool, lead on, string along; manipulate, play (with)

4 to spend time doing nothing I kept dallying at my desk until I couldn't put off doing my work any longer Synonyms bum, chill, idle, dawdle, dillydally, drone, footle, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), hang about [British], kick around, kick back, laze, lazy, loaf, loll, lounge, veg outRelated Words fiddle (around), fool, mess, monkey, muck, piddle, play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle; doze, estivate (also aestivate), hibernate; lag, linger, loiter, poke, relax, rest, tarry; amble, mosey, saunter, stroll, swan; furlough, goldbrick, malinger, truantNear Antonyms drudge, grind, grub, hump, hustle, labor, moil, peg, plod, plow, plug, slave, sweat, toil, travail, work; apply, buckle (down); exert, put out