/ˈdæli/
OriginFrom Middle English dalien, from Anglo-Norman delaier. Doublet of delay.
- To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.
“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. […]”
- ambitransitiveTo caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet
“Not dallying with a Brace of Curtizans,”
“2024, The November Nethack Tournament achievements
Dally with a foocubus”
- To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
- 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
“The end of the top rope he dallied around the gooseneck trailer hitch.”
- Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in roping.
“What matters is now if he tied hard and fast, / Or tumbled his steer with a dally.”
- New-Zealand, colloquialA New Zealand person of Croatian or other Balkan descent.
“The New Zealand wine industry and those who consume the wine it produces owe a huge debt of gratitude to the "Dallies" – the Croatians, and others from that part of eastern Europe who came here in the”
Formsdallies(present, singular, third-person) · dallying(participle, present) · dallied(participle, past) · dallied(past) · dallies(plural) · Dallys(plural) · Dallies(plural)
Source: Wiktionary