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Delight vs Delay - What's the difference?

delight | delay |

As nouns the difference between delight and delay

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

As verbs the difference between delight and delay

is that delight is to give delight to; to affect with great pleasure; to please highly while delay is to put off until a later time; to defer.

delight

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Joy; pleasure.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xviii. 2
    • A fool hath no delight in understanding.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}
  • Something that gives great joy or pleasure.
  • * Milton:
    • Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight .
  • * (Greensleeves):
    • Greensleeves was all my joy / Greensleeves was my delight,

    Derived terms

    * undelight * delightful

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To give delight to; to affect with great pleasure; to please highly.
  • * Tennyson
    • Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds.
  • (label) To have or take great pleasure

    • Derived terms

    * delight in

    Related terms

    * delicacy * delicate * delicatessen * delicious

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * *

    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 […].

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * *