Definitions for dally
ˈdæl idal·ly

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. dally, toy, play, flirtverb

   behave carelessly or indifferently

   "Play about with a young girl's affection"

2. dally, dawdleverb

   waste time

   "Get busy--don't dally!"

3. chat up, flirt, dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, romance, philander, mashverb

   talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions

   "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women"

4. dally, trifle, playverb

   consider not very seriously

   "He is trifling with her"; "She plays with the thought of moving to Tasmania"

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To Dallyverb

   To put off; to delay; to amuse ’till a proper opportunity.

   He fully set down, after his wonted manner, to perform service; not by the hazard of one set battle, but by dalying off the time with often skirmishes. Richard Knolles, History.

2. To DALLYverb

   Etymology: dollen, Dutch, to trifle.

   1. To trifle; to play the fool; to amuse one’s self with idle play; to lose time in trifles.

   Take up thy master: If thou shouldst dally half an hour, his life,
   With thine, and all that offer to defend him,
   Stand in assured loss. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

   He left his cur, and laying hold
   Upon his arms, with courage bold
   Cried out, ’tis now no time to dally,
   The enemy begin to rally. Hudibras, p. i. cant. 3.

   We have trifled too long already: it is madness to dally any longer, when our souls are at stake. Edmund Calamy, Sermons.

   One hundred thousand pounds must be raised; for there is no dallying with hunger. Jonathan Swift.

   2. To exchange caresses; to play the wanton; to fondle.

   He is not lolling on a lewd love bed,
   But on his knees at meditation;
   Not dallying with a brace of courtezans,
   But meditating with two deep divines. William Shakespeare, Rich. III.

   3. To sport; to play; to frolick.

   She her airie buildeth in the cedar’s top,
   And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun. William Shakespeare, R. III.

   4. To delay.

   They that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God. Wisd. xii. 26.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dally

   To dally means to act or move slowly, often to waste time or to flirt casually. It can also mean to play or toy with something casually or carelessly.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Dallyverb

   to waste time in effeminate or voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to fool away time; to delay unnecessarily; to tarry; to trifle

2. Dallyverb

   to interchange caresses, especially with one of the opposite sex; to use fondling; to wanton; to sport

3. Dallyverb

   to delay unnecessarily; to while away

4. Etymology: [OE. dalien, 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.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. Dally

   dal′i, v.i. to lose time by idleness or trifling: to play: to exchange caresses:—pa.p. dall′ied.—ns. Dall′iance, dallying, toying, or trifling: interchange of embraces: delay; Dall′ier, a trifler. [M. E. dalien, to play; prob. from A.S. dweligan, to err; cf. Ice. dvala, to delay, Dut. dwalen, to err; prob. conn. with dwell.]

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. DALLY

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dally is ranked #21371 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Dally surname appeared 1,225 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Dally.
   
   86.2% or 1,057 total occurrences were White.
   6.4% or 79 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   3.9% or 48 total occurrences were Black.
   1.7% or 21 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   0.8% or 10 total occurrences were Asian.
   0.8% or 10 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

1. • Act
   • Consider

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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How to pronounce dally?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say dally in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of dally in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of dally in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of dally in a Sentence

1. Mary McCarthy:

   Anti-Semitism is a horrible disease from which nobody is immune, and it has a kind of evil fascination that makes an enlightened person draw near the source of infection, supposedly in a scientific spirit, but really to sniff the vapors and dally with the possibility.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=dally
2. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=dally
3. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
4. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dally
5. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=dally
6. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
7. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dally