DAWDLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dawdle mean? 

• DAWDLE (verb)
  The verb DAWDLE has 3 senses:

1. take one's time; proceed slowly

2. waste time

3. hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.

  Familiarity information: DAWDLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DAWDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dawdle    ... he / she / it dawdles   
Past simple: dawdled   
Past participle: dawdled   
-ing form: dawdling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take one's time; proceed slowly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

dawdle; linger

Hypernyms (to "dawdle" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

dawdler (someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Waste time

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

dally; dawdle

Context example:

Get busy--don't dally!

Hypernyms (to "dawdle" is one way to...):

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

dawdler (someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind)

dawdling (the deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

dawdle; fall back; fall behind; lag

Hypernyms (to "dawdle" is one way to...):

follow (to travel behind, go after, come after)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dawdle"):

drag; drop back; drop behind; get behind; hang back; trail (to lag or linger behind)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

dawdler (someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind)

 Context examples 

They naturally took comfort in each other's society and were much together, riding, walking, dancing, or dawdling, for at Nice no one can be very industrious during the gay season.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Tea. Your mistress is a little unwell. Don't dawdle.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The other was dawdling with the bottle, and Martin refused to wait for him, tossing the glass off in a gulp and refilling it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of beauty of every kind.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Come, Fanny, taking her hand, “do not be dawdling any longer, or the dance will be over.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She returned just in time to join the others as they quitted the house, on an excursion through its more immediate premises; and the rest of the morning was easily whiled away, in lounging round the kitchen garden, examining the bloom upon its walls, and listening to the gardener's lamentations upon blights, in dawdling through the green-house, where the loss of her favourite plants, unwarily exposed, and nipped by the lingering frost, raised the laughter of Charlotte,—and in visiting her poultry-yard, where, in the disappointed hopes of her dairy-maid, by hens forsaking their nests, or being stolen by a fox, or in the rapid decrease of a promising young brood, she found fresh sources of merriment.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Much could not be hoped from the traffic of even the busiest part of Highbury;—Mr. Perry walking hastily by, Mr. William Cox letting himself in at the office-door, Mr. Cole's carriage-horses returning from exercise, or a stray letter-boy on an obstinate mule, were the liveliest objects she could presume to expect; and when her eyes fell only on the butcher with his tray, a tidy old woman travelling homewards from shop with her full basket, two curs quarrelling over a dirty bone, and a string of dawdling children round the baker's little bow-window eyeing the gingerbread, she knew she had no reason to complain, and was amused enough; quite enough still to stand at the door.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And now, Watson, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The next day, however, she began to dawdle over her work, and the third day she was more idle still; then she began to lie in bed in the mornings and refused to get up.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his successful love; for Mrs. Bennet, 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 her 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.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)