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

To dither and dally when the window of opportunity opens means to end up with one’s nose pressed against the glass of fate, gazing with regret at what might have been.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

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

The midfielder should shoot, but dallies, attempts a pointless one-two with Lukaku, and sees his eventual attempt for goal squirt off to the left.

From The Guardian ● May 11, 2016

So we dallies with Canaps Barbizon, Portage de la Reine, breasts of milk-fed pheasants, and such trifles as that.

From Torchy and Vee by Sewell Ford

How many children were left without a safety net in the time we dilly dallied and worried about tech bosses?

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

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

Although there was nothing markedly peculiar about her gait as she moved through the hall—she neither dallied nor quite hurried—she was nonetheless very peculiarly transformed as she moved.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

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

Darrah’s dallying with cowboys, desert rats and glitter queens around a seedy motel isn’t, itself, altogether new to modern opera stagings, but it felt fresh and right for this little-known score.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2022

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