dally
/ˈdæli/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.78 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.
verb
To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
verb
To wind the lasso rope (ie throw-rope) around the saddle horn (the saddle horn is attached to the pommel of a western style saddle) after the roping of an animal
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "I wish, grave governor, 'twere in my power / To favour you; but 'tis my father's cause, / Wherein I may not, nay, I dare not dally."
- "[…] after we by our presumptuous delays have put off God, and dallied with his grace; […]"
- "[…] we have trifled too long already about a matter of such infinite moment, it is perfect Madness to dally any longer. […]"
- "Not dallying with a Brace of Curtizans, / But meditating with two deepe Diuines:"
- "Mr Dombey in the meantime stood bolt upright in the carriage like a highly respectable ghost, looking on too; while Cleopatra and the Major dallied as two ancient doves might do."
- "So, at the sound of that stirring call to battle, George jumped away from the gentle arms in which he had been dallying; not without a feeling of shame (although his wife's hold on him had been but feeble), that he should have been detained there so long."