dawdle
[ dawd-l ]
/ ˈdɔd l /
verb (used without object), daw·dled, daw·dling.
to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter: Stop dawdling and help me with these packages!
to move slowly, languidly, or dilatorily; saunter.
verb (used with object), daw·dled, daw·dling.
to waste (time) by or as if by trifling (usually followed by away): He dawdled away the whole morning.
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Origin of dawdle
First recorded in 1650–60; variant of daddle to toddle
SYNONYMS FOR dawdle
1, 2 See loiter.
3 fritter, putter, idle, trifle.
OTHER WORDS FROM dawdle
daw·dler, noundaw·dling·ly, adverbWords nearby dawdle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for dawdler
But he knows that he is just a dawdler compared to Chomsky, the great big mindbender.
He had been called a dawdler and a trifler and a do-nothing.
Under Handicap|Jackson GregoryI am but a dawdler, a do-nothing, the butt and laughing-stock of all brave men.
Helmet of Navarre|Bertha RunkleAnd a weakling, a dawdler like himself, must reply to a hero like that!
The Torrent|Vicente Blasco Ibaez
British Dictionary definitions for dawdler
dawdle
/ (ˈdɔːdəl) /
verb
(intr) to be slow or lag behind
(when tr, often foll by away) to waste (time); trifle
Derived forms of dawdle
dawdler, noundawdlingly, adverbWord Origin for dawdle
C17: of uncertain origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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