tarrying

Verb

tarry (third-person singular simple present tarries, present participle tarrying, simple past and past participle tarried)

1. (dated, intransitive) To delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything.
   • I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.c. 1170, Maimonides, “Thirteen principles of faith”, in Mishneh Torah

   Synonyms:

   forestall, put off, adjourn, avert, defer, delay, dilly-dally, draw out, extend, forslow

2. (dated, intransitive) To linger in expectation of something or until something is done or happens.
   • And, thinking of to-morrow, when the church would rise up, singing, under the booming Sunday light, he thought of the light for which they tarried, which, in an instant, filled the soul, causing […] the new-born in Christ to testify: Once I was blind and now I see.1953, James Baldwin, “Florence's Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   abide

3. (dated, intransitive) To abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned.
   • [...] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas.1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xv, page 47

   Synonyms:

   hang about, hang around, linger, loiter

4. (dated, intransitive) To stay somewhere temporarily.
   • In this by-place of nature, there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane; who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow[…].1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, published 1864

   Synonyms:

   sojourn, stay, stay over, stop, stop over, keep, lodge, quarter, sleep over, stop off

5. (dated, transitive) To wait for; to stay or stop for; to allow to linger.
   • Fly, fly, my lord. There is no tarrying here.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

   Synonyms:

   await, wait on, abide, attend, bide, expect, hold up, keep, remain, stay

See all 9 meanings of tarry