dally

present singular third person dallies · participle present dallying · participle past dallied · past dallied

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

   […] after we by our presumptuous delays have put off God, and dallied with his grace; […]

   a. 1692, Isaac Barrow, The Danger and Mischief of Delaying Repentance

   2 more examples

   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.

   c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, (please specify the page)

   […] we have trifled too long already about a matter of such infinite moment, it is perfect Madness to dally any longer. […]

   a. 1726, Benjamin Calamy, “A Sermon Preach'd on Ash-Wednesday”, in J. Calamy, editor, Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions

   Synonyms: dawdle, dilly-dally, arse about, arse around, bludge, bum around, cabbage, clown around

2. ambitransitiveTo caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet

   2024, The November Nethack Tournament achievements Dally with a foocubus

   3 more examples

   Not dallying with a Brace of Curtizans, / But meditating with two deepe Diuines:

   c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 191, column 2

   Mr Dombey in the meantime stood bolt upright in the carriage like a highly respectable ghost, looking on too; while Cleopatra and the Major dallied as two ancient doves might do.

   1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC

   So, at the sound of that stirring call to battle, George jumped away from the gentle arms in which he had been dallying; not without a feeling of shame (although his wife's hold on him had been but feeble), that he should have been detained there so long.

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

   Synonyms: feel up, grope, touch up, canoodle, caress, chuckle, coax, cosset

3. To delay unnecessarily; to while away.

   Synonyms: kill time

plural dallies

1. 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.

   1947, Bruce Kiskaddon, Rhymes and Ranches

present singular third person dallies · participle present dallying · participle past dallied · past dallied

1. 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.

   2003, Jameson Parker, An Accidental Cowboy, page 89

plural dallies

1. IndiaalternativeAlternative form of dolly (“offering of fruit or flowers”).

   We have known Mazagon and long-pod Beans to be thrown out of a dally, because they were full of seed!

   1872, J. Frederick Pogson, Indian Gardening, page 19

plural Dallys

1. A surname.

plural Dallies

1. New ZealandcolloquialA 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 early 1900s and brought with them a passion for growing, making and drinking wine.

   2003, Warren Barton, Saluting Selaks: Let's drink to the 'Dallies'