Word.ws English Dictionary

lollygag

/ˈlɒlɪɡæɡ/

lollygag verb: to dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort.

Verb

lollygag (third-person singular simple present lollygags, present participle lollygagging, simple past and past participle lollygagged)

  1. (US) To dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort.
    • Stop lollygagging! […] He ate ALL the ship's food! 'Zat your friend? Show him outta here!1993, Secret of Mana (fantasy)
    • Now this plaintiff thinks how poor he hereafter will have to live, for the sake of old Green's having a fine fat woman to lollygag with.1889, Albany Law Journal, page 79
  2. (US, dated, 19th-20th centuries) To fool around, especially sexually.
    • Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden. […] The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES, corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline. […]1946, Captain C. F. Behrens, MC, USN, quoted in Time Magazine, volume 47, part 1, page 74, 1946
  3. (US, dated, 19th-20th centuries) To effusively (often excessively) display affection.
    • At the fair the other day George and Sue were lollygagging around like two sick kittens.1912, Dialect Notes. Vol III (1905-1912). Publication of the American Dialect Society., page 582

Noun

lollygag (countable and uncountable, plural lollygags)

  1. (US, uncountable) Silliness, nonsense.
    • He likes to do his car up with blacked-out windows, and all that lollygag.
  2. (US, countable, dated) A useless or worthless person or thing.
    • The lallygag strolls down the road that leads to Failureville.

lollygag meaning in Urdu

lollygag in Urdu

چماچاٹی کرنا, وقت برباد کرنا

Synonyms of lollygag

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of lollygag

Forms of lollygag

Verb
third-person singular presentlollygags
present participlelollygagging
past participlelollygagged
pastlollygagged
alternative formlallygag
alternative formlollygog
alternative formlalligag
alternative formlolligag
Noun
plurallollygags

Origin of lollygag

By surface analysis, lolly (“fool, tongue”) + gag (“fool around”). Compare lollypoop. Cited in American dialects from 1871 and attested since at least 1859.

Questions about lollygag

What does lollygag mean?
Lollygag means to dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort.
What is lollygag in Urdu?
Lollygag in Urdu is چماچاٹی کرنا, وقت برباد کرنا. See Lollygag meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is lollygag?
Lollygag can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce lollygag?
Lollygag is pronounced /ˈlɒlɪɡæɡ/.
What is the past tense of lollygag?
The past tense of lollygag is lollygagged.

Words near lollygag in the dictionary

  1. lolly scrambles
  2. lolly up
  3. lolly-pop
  4. lolly-pops
  5. lollycake
  6. lollygag
  7. lollygagged
  8. lollygagger
  9. lollygaggers
  10. lollygagging
  11. lollygags

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lollygag (page history and authors); lollygag (Urdu Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lollygag.ogg, en-au-lollygag.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lollygag.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lollygag. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.