tardy

adj

Etymology: From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.

1. Late; overdue or delayed.

   “He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.”

   “When everything is ended, then you come. / These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life, / One time or other break some gallows’ back.”

2. Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.

   “[…] fashions in proud Italy, / Whose manners still our tardy apish nation / Limps after in base imitation.”

   “Nor should their Age by Yeares be told: / Whose Souls, more swift then Motion, clime; / And check the tardy Flight of Time.”

3. Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.

   “His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.”

4. Unwary; unready (especially in the phrase take (someone) tardy).

   “Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay.”

   “Yield, Scoundrel base (quoth she) or die; / Thy life is mine, and liberty. / But if thou think’st I took thee tardy, / And dar’st presume to be so hardy, / To try thy fortune o’re afresh, / I’le wave my title to thy flesh,”

5. Criminal; guilty.

   “And the Franks served the Men much the same ſauce when they found them tardy, and made them run their Heats through the Streets”

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.

1. A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.

   “The teacher gave her a tardy because she did not come into the classroom until after the bell.”

2. An instance of a student's being marked as tardy by a teacher on the teacher's attendance sheet.

verb

Etymology: From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.

1. To make tardy.

   “the good mind of Camillo tardied My swift command”

2. To dawdle.

   “Sitting there on the rock behind the school, I heard nothing but the occasional raised voice of some youngster tardying on his way home, and the joints in the schoolhouse squeaking from the frost.”