dally

He did not dally, perhaps mindful of what had happened the night before.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026

If you dally as the clock approaches 2 p.m. on Sunday, you will see that Jerson Osorio’s team can unbuild a city as fast as they can build one.

From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2024

Don’t dally — food is only out for one hour.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2023

The actors don’t dally or fiddle for motivation.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2022

“No. Go dally with your earl. I’ll have none of it.”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

The author gallops through vital moments in world history across the centuries but dallies over what seem like niche aspects of medieval French history.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Nightmare for stand-in Dons captain Angus MacDonald as he dallies on the ball and is dispossessed by Kyogo Furuhashi.

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2024

In the second act, she goes to Vassar, dallies with a fellow student and with a publisher — thoroughly modern Millay — and then Mr. Scanlan’s interest in chronology, never very strong, gives up altogether.

From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2018

If legislative negotiations prove as fruitless this year as they have in the past, if Congress dallies, he will act.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 29, 2014

Both leave us intervals of rest; and in the intervals life goes on perfectly well without them, though the imagination still dallies with their possibility.

From Memories and Studies by Henry James

Rennes midfielder Quentin Merlin dallied deep in his own area and was ambushed by Timothy Weah who passed to Amine Gouiri.

From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026

It, along with its sibling, had stood empty for nearly 25 years, as local, county and Navy authorities dallied on what to do with them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023

After the fourth try, scored by Etzebeth, made it 26-25, Dupont dallied on the ball and got knocked back as South Africa won a penalty and went further ahead.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 15, 2023

For example, the amateur developers who used Reddit’s API to build their own compatible mobile apps while the company dallied on making an official, workable one.

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2023

She dallied and sometimes sat under trees, searched for lady’s slippers or white trilliums to pick, and contemplated her attraction to the world of illusions—her craving for existence and entertainment, for clothes, makeup, dances, movies.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

In doing so, McAfee showed he’s not one for dallying, setting the trial 11 days before the Nov. 3 deadline.

From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2023

We are saying to the Irish government to stop dilly dallying and make a move so that we can get that medicine to the children as early as possible.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2022

Stop dodging and dallying and dancing around the inevitable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2021

In the meantime, a few brands are dallying with cool stuff on the side.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2019

“What are you dallying about for?” he said.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs