dally

See also: Dally

English

WOTD – 3 October 2008

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdælɪ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdæli/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æli

Etymology 1

From Middle English dalyen, from Anglo-Norman delaier

Verb

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

  1. To waste time in voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to trifle.
    • Calamy
      We have trifled too long already; it is madness to dally any longer.
    • Barrow
      We have put off God, and dallied with his grace.
  2. To interchange caresses, especially of a sexual nature; to use fondling; to wanton; to sport (compare dalliance)
    • Shakespeare
      Not dallying with a brace of courtesans.
  3. To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
  4. 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
    • 2003, Jameson Parker, An Accidental Cowboy, page 89:
      The end of the top rope he dallied around the gooseneck trailer hitch.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Possibly from Spanish "dale la vuelta !" ("twist it around !") by law of Hobson-Jobson.

Noun

dally (plural dallies)

  1. Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in roping.
    • 1947 - Bruce Kiskaddon, Rhymes and Ranches
      What matters is now if he tied hard and fast, / Or tumbled his steer with a dally.

Anagrams

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