dawdle
noun
- one who is the personification of dawdling; especially, a dawdling girl or woman
verb
- to idle, waste time; to linger, loiter, dally
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈdɔːdl̩/ / /ˈdɒdl̩/ / /ˈdɔdl̩/ / /ˈdɑdl̩/
noun
Etymology: A variant of doddle.
- Alternative spelling of doddle (“a job, task, or other activity that is easy to complete or simple”).
“He was a QC from Edinburgh, wearing the black jacket and pinstripe trousers of his trade, as if straight from court, and probably persuaded to come in the belief that if you could interest the Budhill and Springboig party in the repressive Gaullist policies in Algeria then becoming Solicitor-General was a dawdle.”
verb
Etymology: The verb is possibly: * a variant of daddle (“(Britain, dialectal) to walk or work slowly, dawdle, saunter, trifle”) or doddle (“(Britain, dialectal) to walk feebly or slowly, dawdle, idle, saunter, stroll”), possibly influenced by daw (“(Britain, dialectal) lazy, good-for-nothing person, sluggard”); or * borrowed from Middle Low German dȫdelen (“to dawdle”), related to Saterland Frisian döädelje (“to dawdle”); compare also German daddeln (“to play”), German verdaddeln (“to waste (time), neglect, ruin”). All of these words are assumed to be of imitative origin. The noun is derived from the verb.
- Chiefly followed by away: to spend (time) without haste or purpose.
“to dawdle away the whole morning”
“[M]anaging to live on terms with both / Opposing potentates, the Power and you, / Crowned with success, but dawdle out my days / In exile here at Clairvaux, with mock love, […]”
- To spend time idly and unfruitfully; to waste time.
“Tell him, if he'll call on me, and davvdle over a diſh of tea in an afternoon, I ſhall take it kind.”
“Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his successful love; for Mrs. Bennett, having dawdled about in the vestibule to watch for the end of the conference, no sooner saw Elizabeth open the door and with quick step pass he towards the staircase, than she entered the breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on the happy prospect of their nearer connection.”
- To move or walk lackadaisically.
“If you dawdle on your daily walk, you won’t get as much exercise.”
“[W]e, who, in muddy boots, dawdle up and down Pall Mall, and peep into the coaches as they drive up with the great folks in their feathers— […]”