delay

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To postpone until a later time; defer.
  2. transitive verb To cause to be later or slower than expected or desired: Heavy traffic delayed us.
  3. intransitive verb To act or move slowly; put off an action or a decision.
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Examples

  • We think that a delay is a criticism of our work and is something at once to be investigated. —  My Life and Work
  • A month more than had been counted on had to be spent at Unyanyembe, and this delay was all the more trying because it brought the traveler nearer to the rainy season. —  The Personal Life Of David Livingstone
  • Only wait until I can lay eyes on you, you will just take one look and know that it couldn't be helped, that the delay was the work of others, that, all I wanted was my Bessie and my Hope. —  Adventures and Letters of Richard Harding Davis
  • A serious result of this delay was the danger arising from European sources. —  The Life of Abraham Lincoln
  • She knew the delay was his way of showing he was not obliged to jump when she whistled. —  A Place Called Freedom
 

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Delay has been looked up 263 times, favorited 0 times, listed 8 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English delaien, from Anglo-Norman delaier, from Old French deslaier : des-, de- + laier, to leave, of Germanic origin; see leip- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English delayen, delaien, from Old French delaier, delayer, deleier, delear, also dellaier, deslaier, etc., dilaier, dilayer, etc., later delayer, French délayer = Spanish Portuguese dilatar = Italian dilatare, also (after F.) dilajare, from Middle Latin dilatare (also delatare), put off, delay, extend the time of, literally extend, spread out, dilate, from Latin dilatus, past participle associated with differre, put off, defer, later ult. English defer, differ: see dilate, defer, differ. Thus delay is a doublet of dilate, and practically of defer, differ, being ult. attached to the same Latin infinitive differre. Cf. delay.
  2. from Middle English delay, from Old French delai, delay, dilai, dilais, French délai, masculine, Old French also delaie. feminine, = Italian dilata, feminine, delay; from the verb.
  3. from French délayer, dilute, mix with water, spin out a discourse, = Provencal desleguar = Italian dileguare, dilute, from Middle Latin *disliquare, *diliquare, the same, with slightly different prefix (dis-, di-, instead of de-), as L. deliquare, also delicare, clarify a liquid by straining it, from de, off, + liquare, liquefy: see deliquate, liquate, liquid. apparently more or less associated, erroneously, with delay (Old French delayer, etc.). delate (which, though equivalent in sense to delay, is prop, a form of dilate), dilate, and with allay, allay.
 

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/dəˈleɪ/
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