DELAY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Delay

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/dɪlˈeɪ/ Listen

noun

Delay n. (pl. delays) A putting off or deferring; procrastination; lingering inactivity; stop; detention; hindrance. "Without any delay, on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat." "The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day."

verb

Delay v. t. (past & past part. delayed; pres. part. delaying)

To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the time of or before. "My lord delayeth his coming."

To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time; to retard the motion, or time of arrival, of; as, the mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow. "Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed The huddling brook to hear his madrigal."

To allay; to temper. (Obs.) "The watery showers delay the raging wind."

Delay v. i. To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry. "There seem to be certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of those ideas,... beyond which they can neither delay nor hasten."

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Etymology of 'Delay'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Delay" Quotes from Famous Books

... presence to Grant until the next morning. Grant had then departed for the battle-field. Grant was eating his breakfast at Savannah when the battle opened, and at first determined to find Buell before going to his army; but the sound of guns was so continuous, he felt that he should not delay a moment, and hence left a note for Buell asking him to hasten with his reinforcements to Pittsburg Landing, gave an order for Nelson to march at once, and then proceeded by boat up the river. Buell, ...

— Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2 • Joseph Warren Keifer

... funicular and rack-and-pinion railroads which serve to commercialise grandeur instead of protecting it. Half way up the hill, we paused to rest, and I quite clearly remember growling that if the confounded thing belonged to me I'd build a funicular or install an elevator without delay. Poor Elsie was too fatigued to say what she ought to have said to me for suggesting and even ...

— A Fool and His Money • George Barr McCutcheon

... of this delay, do you mean, McClure?" asked McKenzie, and then, turning to me said, "By the way, Mr. Ogilvy, I think this is our second meeting to-night. I met you on the road a few hours ago with your wife. ...

— The Little Minister • J.M. Barrie

... first Divisions of our army therefore passed wide to the right and left, and leaving them undiscovered went into Princeton. Gen. Mercer's Brigade, owing to some delay in arranging Cadwallader's men had advanced several hundred yards ahead and never discovered the enemy until he was turning the buildings they were posted behind, and then they were not ...

— The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn • Henry P. Johnston

... nights, or maybe three. Then, if an alarm came in they would be right there to rush the engine out. The other boys would stay in their homes, and, as soon as they heard the bell, they'd run to the fire. In that way they'd get to the blaze about the same time the engine would, and there'd be no delay." ...

— The Young Firemen of Lakeville - or, Herbert Dare's Pluck • Frank V. Webster

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