dawdle

[dawd-l]

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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.

Origin of dawdle

First recorded in 1650–60; variant of daddle to toddle

Related formsdaw·dler, noundaw·dling·ly, adverb

Synonyms for dawdle

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1, 2. See loiter. 3. fritter, putter, idle, trifle.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for dawdler

debtor, offender, hoodlum, felon, wrongdoer, lawbreaker, defaulter, vagrant, beggar, slowpoke, loafer, idler, dawdler, lounger, straggler, procrastinator, sluggard, slug, snail, plodder

Examples from the Web for dawdler

Contemporary Examples of dawdler

But he knows that he is just a dawdler compared to Chomsky, the great big mindbender.
What Is Michel Gondry Doing With Noam Chomsky?
Jimmy So
November 20, 2013

Historical Examples of dawdler

I am but a dawdler, a do-nothing, the butt and laughing-stock of all brave men.
Helmet of Navarre
Bertha Runkle
He had been called a dawdler and a trifler and a do-nothing.
Under Handicap
Jackson Gregory
And a weakling, a dawdler like himself, must reply to a hero like that!
The Torrent
Vicente Blasco Ibaez

British Dictionary definitions for dawdler

dawdle

verb

(intr) to be slow or lag behind
(when tr, often foll by away) to waste (time); trifle

Derived Formsdawdler, noundawdlingly, adverb

Word Origin for dawdle

C17: of uncertain origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dawdler

dawdle

1650s, perhaps a variant of daddle "to walk unsteadily." Perhaps influenced by daw, because the bird was regarded as sluggish and silly. Not in general use until c.1775. Related: Dawdled; dawdling.