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The Evolution of Dally
English speakers have been futzing around with dally since the late Middle Ages. They first started using it to mean "to chat," which was also the meaning of dalier, the Anglo-French word whence it came, but this sense fell into disuse. Next, they applied it to acting playfully with someone especially in amorous and flirtatious ways (the noun dalliance, meaning "an act of dallying," is to this day often used for situations where people get all smoochy and whatnot). The idea of more figurative flirtatiousness soon led to a sense of dally meaning "to deal with lightly or in a way that is not serious." Finally, by the mid-16th century, perhaps because fuddy-duddies saw all of this fun and frivolity as a waste of time, dally gained the additional meanings of "to waste time" and "to dawdle."
Synonyms
Examples of dally in a Sentence
David Opie, IndieWire, 21 Nov. 2024
Lonergan is dallying intentionally in territory that might be tough to stomach if a director or an actor took themselves too seriously.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2024
Their dallying tartness charts an ongoing conversation on the renowned love affair of sour and spice in Mexican cuisine — one worth celebrating.
—Andrea Aliseda, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2024
And then there’s her day job, as a receptionist at her art-school alma mater, to pay her landlord, who dallies on fixing the heater.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near dally
Cite this Entry
“Dally.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dally. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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dally
verb
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