dalliance

noun

Etymology: From Middle English daliaunce et al., from dalien (“to exchange pleasantries, to chat; to flirt”), from Old French dalier, dailer. By surface analysis, dally + -ance.

1. Playful flirtation; amorous play.

   “As in the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind),”

   ““Mark,” said Gabriel, sternly, “now you mind this: none of that dalliance-talk—that philandering way—that dandle-smack-and-coddle style of yours—about Miss Everdene. I don’t allow it. Do you hear?””

2. An episode of dabbling.
3. A wasting of time in idleness or trifles.

   “He had passed the officer now. There was no necessity for dalliance. He pressed the accelerator down a trifle.”

   “Emerging, satiated, from the theatre, a public timepiece before a jeweller's shop confronted him with an unexpected dial and imminent perplexities. How was he to explain at home these hours of dalliance?”

4. A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit.