DALLY

dally, trifle, play

(verb) consider not very seriously; “He is trifling with her”; “She plays with the thought of moving to Tasmania”

dally, dawdle

(verb) waste time; “Get busy--don’t dally!”

dally, toy, play, flirt

(verb) behave carelessly or indifferently; “Play about with a young girl’s affection”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Proper noun

Dally (plural Dallys)

A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Dally is the 21371^st most common surname in the United States, belonging to 1225 individuals. Dally is most common among White (86.29%) individuals.

Etymology 2

Contraction of "Dalmatian Coast", from where many Croatian emigrants originated. Also spelt "Dallie"

Noun

Dally (plural Dallies)

(colloquial New Zealand English) A New Zealand person of Croatian or other Balkan descent.

Anagrams

• d'y'all, y'all'd

Etymology 1

Verb

dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied)

To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.

(ambitransitive) To caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet

To delay unnecessarily; to while away.

Synonyms

• (to waste time): dawdle, dilly-dally; see also loiter

• (to caress): feel up, grope, touch up; see also fondle

• (delay unnecessarily): kill time

Etymology 2

Noun

dally (plural dallies)

Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in roping.

Verb

dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied)

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

Anagrams

• d'y'all, y'all'd

Source: Wiktionary

Dal"ly, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dallied; p. pr. & vb. n. Dallying.] Etym: [OE. , dailien; cf. Icel. pylja to talk, G. dallen, dalen, dahlen, to trifle, talk nonsense, OSw. tule a droll or funny man; or AS. dol foolish, E. dull.]

1. To waste time in effeminate or voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to fool away time; to delay unnecessarily; to tarry; to trifle. We have trifled too long already; it is madness to dally any longer. Calamy. We have put off God, and dallied with his grace. Barrow.

2. To interchange caresses, especially with one of the opposite sex; to use fondling; to wanton; to sport. Not dallying with a brace of courtesans. Shak. Our aerie . . . dallies with the wind. Shak.

Dal"ly, v. t.

Definition: To delay unnecessarily; to while away. Dallying off the time with often skirmishes. Knolles.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition