Lexic.us

Definition of Dawdle

1. Verb. Take one's time; proceed slowly.

2. Verb. Waste time. "Get busy--don't dally!"

3. Verb. Hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc..

Definition of Dawdle

1. v. i. To waste time in trifling employment; to trifle; to saunter.

2. v. t. To waste by trifling; as, to dawdle away a whole morning.

3. n. A dawdler.

Definition of Dawdle

1. Verb. (intransitive) To spend time idly and unfruitfully, to waste time. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To spend (time) without haste or purpose. ¹

3. Verb. (intransitive) To move or walk lackadaisically. ¹

4. Noun. A dawdler. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Dawdle

1. to waste time [v -DLED, -DLING, -DLES]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Dawdle

davit davits davreuxite davy jones davyne davyum daw dawah dawbries dawbry

dawcock dawcocks dawd dawded dawding dawdle (current term) dawdled dawdler dawdlers dawdles

dawdling dawdlingly dawds dawed dawen dawghtor dawgs dawing dawings dawish

Literary usage of Dawdle

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Prose Writers of America: With a Survey of the Intellectual History by Rufus Wilmot Griswold (1856)
"Dawson dawdle forgets, too;—how complimentary it is to be told that ... Or else, Dawson dawdle did not know it was so late ; and yet Dawson might have been ..."

2. The Novelist's Magazine (1782)
"Here, dawdle, take that note.*—- Not I, Sir,—what d'ye mean?—What right have I to your notes.'—' Nay, but dawdle— come.' — 'By no means — it looks like the ..."

3. A Dictionary of English Etymology by Hensleigh Wedgwood, John Christopher Atkinson (1872)
"... to dawdle ; Da. drat, scrap, slop, little bit; ... to loiter, dawdle ; Du. treuzelen, to loiter, linger. Dread. ..."

4. Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle by Jane Welsh Carlyle (1883)
"I hasten over the cleverest descriptions of extraneous people and things, to find something 'all about' yourself 'all to myself.' But I must not dawdle. ..."

5. The Cheery Book by William Melville Kerr (1898)
"TODDLE AND dawdle. TODDLE and dawdle, two sweet little things— Are darling earth-angels without any wings ; You could not help loving the one nor the other, ..."

6. The Tomahawk: A Saturday Journal of Satire edited by Arthur William A'Beckett (1867)
"dawdle and Dangle over their coffee and cigars. DANGLE. ... Been to any of the theatres lately Î dawdle.—I hooked in at the Queen's the other night. ..."

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