| 释义 |
Definition of dilly-dally in English: dilly-dallyverbdilly-dallying, dilly-dallied, dilly-dallies ˈdɪlɪdaliˈdɪliˌdæli [no object]informal Waste time through aimless wandering or indecision. don't dilly-dally for too long Example sentencesExamples - He's seen out the season and he hasn't dilly-dallied.
- Oh, do tell me you've not wasted my father's money by spending all of your days dilly-dallying with poetry, rather than studying!
- While they're dilly-dallying, my house is falling apart.
- Apparently she told the passengers that when they had deplaned and cleared customs, they were to make their way straight home, and not to dilly-dally anywhere, as there was a large amount of civil disturbance going on downtown!
- It's never too early to start loitering, and dilly-dallying.
- How should we deal with judges who sleep on the bench, dilly-dally over judgments or commit crimes?
- Girls, time for class, stop dilly-dallying.
- They cannot dilly-dally with the issue as the deadline has been set.
- Well, I hope he doesn't dilly-dally too much longer.
- We're leaving early tomorrow, and I'm not going to be dilly-dallying.
- In fact, had they not dilly-dallied, the book would have been out much sooner.
- It's just as important not to dilly-dally while you get it down, too.
- I'm not going to be dilly-dallying around and dancing around the issues.
- This generosity for themselves comes from a congress that continues to dilly-dally over a proposal to raise the minimum wage by a pathetic dollar-an-hour - phased in over the next three years.
- We were thankful for the time bought for us to dilly-dally.
- His attitude has been to dilly-dally and turn down proposals on firms on trivial grounds.
- Don't four-year-olds often dilly-dally, stall, and do just about everything slowly?
- When she emerged - and she never took long, for she wasn't one to dilly-dally - I would step into the hall so that she would see me there waiting and wouldn't be frightened.
- I used to be a fundraiser, and I found that it is best not to dilly-dally too long, but to go ahead and get to ‘the ask’.
- While the Minister for Health dilly-dallies, patients lives are at risk and staff are continuing to work in completely unacceptable and intolerable conditions.
Synonyms waste time, dally, dawdle, loiter, linger, take one's time, delay, mark time, kill time, while away time, potter, trifle, temporize, stall, procrastinate, drag one's feet, play a waiting game dither, hesitate, falter, vacillate, waver, fluctuate British haver, hum and haw Scottish swither informal shilly-shally, blow hot and cold, let the grass grow under one's feet, pussyfoot around archaic or literary tarry
Origin Early 17th century: reduplication of dally. shilly-shally from mid 18th century: People unable to make up their minds whether to do something are likely to ask themselves ‘Shall I?’ repeatedly. With the rhyming impulse also seen in dilly-dally (early 17th century) (dally came from the French for ‘to chat’ in the Middle Ages) and willy-nilly, people in the 18th century mocked this tendency by expanding it to ‘shill I, shall I?’, and so shilly-shally was born.
Rhymes Ali, alley, Allie, Ally, bally, dally, farfalle, galley, Halley, mallee, Mexicali, pally, Raleigh, rally, reveille, sally, tally, valley Definition of dilly-dally in US English: dilly-dallyverbˈdilēˌdalēˈdɪliˌdæli [no object]informal Waste time through aimless wandering or indecision. don't dilly-dally for too long Example sentencesExamples - He's seen out the season and he hasn't dilly-dallied.
- This generosity for themselves comes from a congress that continues to dilly-dally over a proposal to raise the minimum wage by a pathetic dollar-an-hour - phased in over the next three years.
- Don't four-year-olds often dilly-dally, stall, and do just about everything slowly?
- Girls, time for class, stop dilly-dallying.
- It's never too early to start loitering, and dilly-dallying.
- Oh, do tell me you've not wasted my father's money by spending all of your days dilly-dallying with poetry, rather than studying!
- His attitude has been to dilly-dally and turn down proposals on firms on trivial grounds.
- I used to be a fundraiser, and I found that it is best not to dilly-dally too long, but to go ahead and get to ‘the ask’.
- In fact, had they not dilly-dallied, the book would have been out much sooner.
- I'm not going to be dilly-dallying around and dancing around the issues.
- While they're dilly-dallying, my house is falling apart.
- It's just as important not to dilly-dally while you get it down, too.
- We're leaving early tomorrow, and I'm not going to be dilly-dallying.
- They cannot dilly-dally with the issue as the deadline has been set.
- Apparently she told the passengers that when they had deplaned and cleared customs, they were to make their way straight home, and not to dilly-dally anywhere, as there was a large amount of civil disturbance going on downtown!
- We were thankful for the time bought for us to dilly-dally.
- Well, I hope he doesn't dilly-dally too much longer.
- How should we deal with judges who sleep on the bench, dilly-dally over judgments or commit crimes?
- When she emerged - and she never took long, for she wasn't one to dilly-dally - I would step into the hall so that she would see me there waiting and wouldn't be frightened.
- While the Minister for Health dilly-dallies, patients lives are at risk and staff are continuing to work in completely unacceptable and intolerable conditions.
Synonyms waste time, dally, dawdle, loiter, linger, take one's time, delay, mark time, kill time, while away time, potter, trifle, temporize, stall, procrastinate, drag one's feet, play a waiting game
Origin Early 17th century: reduplication of dally. |