dawdle
/ˈdɔdl̩/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.97 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An act of spending time idly and unfruitfully; a dawdling.
Example Sentences
- "to dawdle away the whole morning"
- "[M]anaging to live on terms with both / Opposing potentates, the Power and you, / Crowned with success, but dawdle out my days / In exile here at Clairvaux, with mock love, […]"
- "Tell him, if he'll call on me, and davvdle over a diſh of tea in an afternoon, I ſhall take it kind."
- "Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his successful love; for Mrs. Bennett, having dawdled about in the vestibule to watch for the end of the conference, no sooner saw Elizabeth open the door and with quick step pass he towards the staircase, than she entered the breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on the happy prospect of their nearer connection."
- "You all know when you learn with a will, and when you dawdle. There's no doubt of conscience about that, I suppose?"
- "There are no idlers here; the only loungers are those who have undertaken for hire to do other people's business, and the hireling dawdleth because he is an hireling. What is his master's business to him? he neither knows its importance nor yet cares he if it be neglected."
Etymology
The verb is possibly: * a variant of daddle (“(Britain, dialectal) to walk or work slowly, dawdle, saunter, trifle”) or doddle (“(Britain, dialectal) to walk feebly or slowly, dawdle, idle, saunter, stroll”), possibly influenced by daw (“(Britain, dialectal) lazy, good-for-nothing person, sluggard”); or * borrowed from Middle Low German dȫdelen (“to dawdle”), related to Saterland Frisian döädelje (“to dawdle”); compare also German daddeln (“to play”), German verdaddeln (“to waste (time), neglect, ruin”). All of these words are assumed to be of imitative origin. The noun is derived from the verb.
Word Breakdown
- Root: dȫdelen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɔdl̩/
- British English: /ˈdɔːdl̩/
Usage
Inflected Forms
dawdles (present, singular)
dawdling (participle, present)
dawdled (participle, past)
dawdled (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
dawdled (first person, past)
dawdlest (archaic, present)
dawdled (past, second person)
dawdledst (archaic, past)
dawdleth (archaic, present)
dawdled (past, singular)