dawdle

daw·dle

verb

To dawdle is defined as to waste time or to move excessively slowly.

When you lay around in your pajamas instead of getting dressed in the morning and then you take an hour to get dressed, this is an example of a time when you dawdle.

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"dawdle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dawdle>.

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dawdle. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dawdle

dawdle

intransitive verb

transitive verb

-·dled, -·dling

to waste (time) in trifling or by being slow; idle: often with away

Origin of dawdle

from uncertain or unknown; perhaps or akin to Middle English dadel(ing), chattering (of birds), dadelar, glib talker, probably of echoic origin, originally

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MLA Style

"dawdle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dawdle>.

APA Style

dawdle. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dawdle

dawdle

verb

daw·dled, daw·dling, daw·dles

verb

intransitive

To take more time than necessary: dawdled through breakfast.
To move aimlessly or lackadaisically: dawdling on the way to work.

verb

transitive

To waste (time) by idling: dawdling the hours away.

Origin of dawdle

Perhaps alteration of dialectal daddle to diddle

Related Forms:

daw′dler
noun

daw′dling·ly
adverb

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"dawdle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 11 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dawdle>.

APA Style

dawdle. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dawdle

Verb

(third-person singular simple present dawdles, present participle dawdling, simple past and past participle dawdled)

(intransitive) To spend time idly and unfruitfully, to waste time.
To spend (time) without haste or purpose.
to dawdle away the whole morning
(intransitive) To move or walk lackadaisically.
If you dawdle on your daily walk, you won't get as much exercise.

Noun

(plural dawdles)

A dawdler.

Origin

First attested around 1656; variant of daddle ("to walk unsteadily"), perhaps influenced by daw, since the bird was regarded as sluggish and silly. Not in general use until around 1775.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.