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

I dally in the palace garden to gather a few more things.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

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

Keith Poulson’s Chris, an insecure former child actor cast as Nick’s counterpart in the play, dallies with both Mona and Esther Garrel’s Thérèse — who plays the Mona figure and seeks out Nick for research.

From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2018

He’s got options either side, but dillies and dallies.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 12, 2015

It drops down to us; we sheer aside and slow a pace, and it lingers and dallies sportively abeam.

From Merchantmen-at-arms : the British merchants' service in the war by David W. (David William) Bone

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

Two minutes later though, Carreras dallied over a clearing kick to allow Dan to charge down, gather up and take revenge and restore England's advantage at 23-17.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 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

Having dallied with the priesthood in the Anglican Church, he abandoned it to become a caseworker.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

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

Richarlison spurned two good chances to double Tottenham's lead - both from superb Maddison balls - the Brazilian dallying long enough to give Bournemouth time to clear before sending a close-range header into the side-netting.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2023

Stop dodging and dallying and dancing around the inevitable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2021

Klopp empowers his players to think for themselves: the iconic winning goal against Barcelona in last year’s Champions League semifinal came from the squad’s observation that its opponent was dallying during set pieces.

From New York Times ● Jun. 26, 2020

“Pass me your quizzes, everyone—and no dallying, please. A stitch in time saves time, you know.”

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart