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.
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, noun daw·dling·ly, adverbWords nearby dawdle
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, noun dawdlingly, adverbWord Origin for dawdle
C17: of uncertain origin