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How do you say “cat” 🐈 in Spanish?
gato/gata
cato/cata
gatto/gatta
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Origin of shilly-shally

1690–1700; originally repeated question, shall I? shall I? later altered on the model of its synonym dilly-dally

OTHER WORDS FROM shilly-shally

shil·ly-shal·li·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to shilly-shally

blow hot and cold, dally, dawdle, dodge, fluctuate, halt, hesitate, stall, trifle, vacillate, waver

Example sentences from the Web for shilly-shally

  • You've got to shillyshally, and then you've got to go it blind.

    April Hopes|William Dean Howells

  • Then a lot of shillyshally usually followed, Tom for and Dick and Harry against.

    Ulysses|James Joyce

British Dictionary definitions for shilly-shally

Derived forms of shillyshally

shillyshallier, noun

Word Origin for shillyshally

C18: from shill I shall I, by reduplication of shall I
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