dally
/ˈdæli/
dally verb: to waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle. Also the alternative form of dolly.
Verb (1)
dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied)
- To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.
- 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...
- […] 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
- Synonyms:
- dawdle, dilly-dally, arse about, arse around, bludge, bum around, cabbage, clown around, dick about, dick around
- To caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet
- 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...
- 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
- To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
- Synonyms:
- kill time
Noun (1)
dally (plural dallies)
- 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
Verb (2)
dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied)
- 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
Proper noun capitalized: Dally
Dally (plural Dallys)
- A surname.
Noun (2) capitalized: Dally
Dally (plural Dallies)
- A 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'
Also used as
dally is also the alternative form of dolly.
dally meaning in Arabic
dally in Arabic
- to waste time
- تضييع الوقت tadyie alwaqt
Examples of dally in a sentence
- Could you be saving yourself for Mrs Right before you've dallied with a few Ms Wrongs?
- He asked of course after Taimsa, who was still dallying in shamelessnesses at Antioch.
- The big-bootied diva was seen dallying with the boy-band singer earlier this year.
Synonyms of dally
- dawdle
- dilly-dally
- arse about
- arse around
- bludge
- bum around
- cabbage
- clown around
- dick about
- dick around
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of dally
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | dallies |
| present participle | dallying |
| past participle | dallied |
| past | dallied |
| Noun | |
| plural | dallies |
| plural | Dallies |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Dallys |
Origin of dally
From Middle English dalien, from Anglo-Norman delaier. Doublet of delay.
Possibly from Spanish dale vuelta (“twist it around”) by law of Hobson-Jobson, from dale + la + vuelta.
Contraction of "Dalmatian Coast", from where many Croatian emigrants originated. Also spelt "Dallie"
Words formed from dally
Phrases with dally
Words that rhyme with dally
13 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about dally
- What does dally mean?
- Dally means to waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.
- What is dally in Arabic?
- Dally in Arabic is تضييع الوقت (tadyie alwaqt). See Dally meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is dally?
- Dally can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dally?
- Dally is pronounced /ˈdæli/.
- What is the past tense of dally?
- The past tense of dally is dallied.
Words near dally in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dally (page history and authors); Dally (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dally.ogg, en-au-dally.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dally.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dally. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.