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Definition of Linger
1. Verb. Remain present although waning or gradually dying. "Her perfume lingered on"
2. Verb. Be about. "Who is this man that is hanging around the department?"
Generic synonyms: Be
Specialized synonyms: Lurch, Prowl
Derivative terms: Lingerer, Loiterer, Lounger
3. Verb. Leave slowly and hesitantly.
4. Verb. Take one's time; proceed slowly.
Generic synonyms: Move
Derivative terms: Dawdler
Also: Linger Over
Antonyms: Rush
5. Verb. Move to and fro. "The shy student lingered in the corner"
Definition of Linger
1. v. i. To delay; to loiter; to remain or wait long; to be slow or reluctant in parting or moving; to be slow in deciding; to be in suspense; to hesitate.
2. v. t. To protract; to draw out.
Definition of Linger
1. Verb. (intransitive) To stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so. ¹
2. Verb. (intransitive) To remain alive or existent although still proceeding toward death or extinction; to die gradually. ¹
3. Verb. (intransitive often followed by (term on)) To consider or contemplate for a period of time; to engage in analytical thinking or discussion. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Linger
1. to delay leaving [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Linger
Literary usage of Linger
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Library of Southern Literature by Edwin Anderson Alderman, Joel Chandler Harris, Charles William Kent (1909)
"A LITTLE WHILE I FAIN WOULD linger YET A little while (my life is almost set!)
I fain would pause along the downward way, Musing an hour in this sad ..."
2. American Poems (1625-1892) by Walter Cochrane Bronson (1912)
"5 A little while I fain would linger yet, All for love's sake, ... Nor can love
deem the face of death is fair: A little while I si ill would linger here. ..."
3. The Little Book of American Poets, 1787-1900 by Jessie Belle Rittenhouse (1915)
"A LITTLE WHILE I FAIN WOULD linger YET A LITTLE while (my life is almost set!)
I fain would pause along the downward way, Musing an hour in this sad ..."
4. A Library of American Literature from the Earliest Settlement to the Present by Edmund Clarence Stedman, Ellen Mackay Hutchinson (1889)
"A little while I fain would linger yet, All for love's sake, for love that cannot
tire; Though fervid youth be dead, with youth's desire. ..."
5. American Poetry by Percy Holmes Boynton, Frank Martindale Webster, George Wiley Sherburn, Howard Mumford Jones (1918)
"Dumb storm! outpour your arctic heart's desire! Your flakes to me seem flushed
with fairy fire! A LITTLE WHILE I FAIN WOULD linger YET A little while (my ..."
6. American Poetry by Percy Holmes Boynton, Howard Mumford Jones, George Wiley Sherburn, Frank Martindale Webster (1918)
"A LITTLE WHILE I FAIN WOULD linger YET A little while (my life is almost set!)
I fain would pause along the downward way. Musing an hour in this sad ..."
7. A Concordance to the English Poems of Thomas Gray by Albert Stanburrough Cook, Concordance Society (1908)
"linger. they linger yet, Avengers of their native land : linger in the gloomy
Walks of Fate: ... Bard 45. rhymes that us'd to linger on, Vent. 9. lingering. ..."
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