delay
English
Etymology 1
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#DELAYCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#DELAY delaien, borrowed from Anglo-NormanCategory:English terms derived from Anglo-Norman#DELAY delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#DELAY laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old FrankishCategory:English terms derived from Frankish#DELAY *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#DELAY *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#DELAY *leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old FrankishCategory:English terms derived from Frankish#DELAY *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#DELAY *laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#DELAY *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dallyCategory:English doublets#DELAY.
Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɪˈleɪ/Category:English 2-syllable words#DELAYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#DELAY
- (General American) IPA(key): /dəˈleɪ/, /dɪ-/Category:English 2-syllable words#DELAYCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#DELAY
Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#DELAYAudio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪ#DELAYCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪ/2 syllables#DELAY
- Hyphenation: de‧lay
Noun
delay (countable and uncountable, plural delays)Category:English lemmas#DELAYCategory:English nouns#DELAYCategory:English uncountable nouns#DELAYCategory:English countable nouns#DELAYCategory:English countable nouns#DELAYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DELAYCategory:Pages with entries#DELAYCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DELAY
- A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
- the delay before the echo of a soundCategory:English terms with usage examples#DELAY
- Two twenty minutes' delays.Category:English terms with usage examples#DELAY
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:17:
- Without any delay, on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat.Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume 1, London: A. and W. Galignani & Co., published 1849, page 522:
- The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day.Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
- 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42:
- In this article I'm thinking about the big delays, over two hours. While rare, they make the news and help to deter people from future rail travel, both travellers and news viewers.Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
- (musicCategory:en:Music#DELAY) An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
- 2014, Dave Hunter, Guitar Amps and Effects For Dummies, page 259:
- The 8-bit sound quality of many early delays did indeed leave a lot to be desired (compare this to the 16-bit digital technology of CDs)Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
- (programmingCategory:en:Programming#DELAY, Clojure) Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”).
- (chessCategory:en:Chess#DELAY) An amount of time provided on each move before one's clock starts to tick; a less common time control than increment.
Synonyms
- (period of time): cunctation, hold-up; see also Thesaurus:delay
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Portuguese: delay
Translations
Verb
delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)Category:English lemmas#DELAYCategory:English verbs#DELAYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DELAYCategory:Pages with entries#DELAYCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DELAY
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#DELAY)
- To put off until a later time; to defer.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 24:48:
- My lord delayeth his coming.Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
- To retard; to temporarily stop, detain, or hinder.
- The mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow.Category:English terms with usage examples#DELAY
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
- To put off until a later time; to defer.
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#DELAY) To wait, hesitate, tarry.
- 2009, Ingrid Michaelson, “Once Was Love”, in Everybody:
- Don't delayCategory:English terms with quotations#DELAY
Something tells me I gotta go away
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#DELAY, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#DELAY) To allay; to temper.
- a. 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The faithful Lover declareth his Pains and his uncertain Joys, and with only Hope recomforteth somewhat his woful Heart:
- The watery showers delay the raging wind.Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
- (put off until a later time): adjourn, defer, forslow (obsolete), penelopize (rare), postpone, put off, put on ice, suspend, waive
- (retard): belate, forslow (obsolete), detain, get in the way of, hold up, impede; See also Thesaurus:hinder
- (wait, hesitate): See Thesaurus:procrastinate
- (allay (obsolete)): calm, moderate, quell; See also Thesaurus:pacify
Derived terms
- delayability
- delayable
- delayal
- delayed critical
- delayed criticality
- delayed ejaculation
- delayed miscarriage
- delayed neutron
- delayed-onset muscle soreness
- delayed onset muscle soreness
- delayed puberty
- delayed sleep phase disorder
- delayer
- delayingly
- delaying tactic
- delayism
- delay no more
- justice delayed is justice denied
- nondelaying
- redelay
- undelaying
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#DELAYCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#DELAY delaien, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#DELAY delaiier, a variant of delaissier.
Verb
delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)Category:English lemmas#DELAYCategory:English verbs#DELAYCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DELAYCategory:Pages with entries#DELAYCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DELAY
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#DELAY) To dilute, temper.
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#DELAY) To assuage, quench, allay.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Those dreadfull flames she also found delayd / And quenched quite like a consumed torch […].Category:English terms with quotations#DELAY
Further reading
- “delay”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “delay”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Anagrams
Maranao
Noun
delayCategory:Maranao lemmas#DELAYCategory:Maranao nouns#DELAYCategory:Maranao terms without batang Arab script#DELAYCategory:Maranao entries with incorrect language header#DELAYCategory:Pages with entries#DELAYCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DELAY
References
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from EnglishCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from English#DELAYCategory:Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English#DELAYCategory:Portuguese terms derived from English#DELAY delay.
Pronunciation
Noun
delay m (plural delays)Category:Portuguese lemmas#DELAYCategory:Portuguese nouns#DELAYCategory:Portuguese countable nouns#DELAYCategory:Portuguese terms spelled with Y#DELAYCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#DELAYCategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#DELAYCategory:Pages with entries#DELAYCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DELAY