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Delay vs Gap - What's the difference?

delay | gap |

As nouns the difference between delay and gap

is that delay is a period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity while gap is gap.

As a verb delay

is to put off until a later time; to defer or delay can be (obsolete) to dilute, temper.

delay

English

(wikipedia delay)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

Verb

(en verb)
  • To put off until a later time; to defer.
  • * Bible, (w) xxiv. 48
  • My lord delayeth his coming.
  • To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=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.}}
  • (label) To allay; to temper.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • The watery showers delay the raging wind.
    Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See
    Synonyms
    * See also * adjourn * defer * forslow * postpone * put off * put on ice * suspend

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
  • the delay before the echo of a sound
  • * Bible, Acts xxv. 17
  • Without any delay , on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat.
  • * Macaulay
  • The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To dilute, temper.
  • (obsolete) To assuage, quench, allay.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.12:
  • Those dreadfull flames she also found delayd / And quenched quite like a consumed torch […].

    Anagrams

    * *

    gap

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An opening in anything made by breaking or parting.
  • An opening allowing passage or entrance.
  • An opening that implies a breach or defect.
  • A vacant space or time.
  • A hiatus.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. Yet this is the level of organisation that does the actual thinking—and is, presumably, the seat of consciousness.}}
  • A mountain or hill pass.
  • (label) A sheltered area of coast between two cliffs (mostly restricted to place names).
  • (label) The regions between the outfielders.
  • The shortfall between the amount the medical insurer will pay to the service provider and the scheduled fee for the item.
  • * 2008 , Eileen Willis, Louise Reynolds, Helen Keleher, Understanding the Australian Health Care System , page 5,
  • Under bulk billing the patient does not pay a gap , and the medical practitioner receives 85% of the scheduled fee.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 13, author=Andrew Benson, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win , passage=That left Maldonado with a 6.2-second lead. Alonso closed in throughout their third stints, getting the gap down to 4.2secs before Maldonado stopped for the final time on lap 41.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1995, author=Robert E. Knoll, chapter=A University on the Defensive 1920-1927
  • , title= Prairie University: A History of the University of Nebraska, page=70 , passage=When Charles Bessey suddenly died in 1916 at age seventy, he left a gap that was impossible to fill; and though his protégé. R. J. Pool, was a man of intelligence and character, he did not have Bessey’s authority.}}
  • (label) (usually written as "the gap") The disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities with regard to life expectancy, education, health, etc.
  • Synonyms

    * (opening made by breaking or parting) break, hole, rip, split, tear, rift, chasm, fissure * (opening allowing passage or entrance) break, clearing, hole, opening * (opening that implies a breach or defect) space * (vacant space or time) window * (hiatus) hiatus * (mountain pass) col, neck, pass * (in baseball)

    Derived terms

    * gap-toothed * gap year

    Verb

    (gapp)
  • (label) To notch, as a sword or knife.
  • (label) To make an opening in; to breach.
  • (label) To check the size of a gap.
  • Anagrams

    * * * ----