Tardy vs Dally - What's the difference?
tardy | dally |
Late; overdue or delayed.
ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dullard.
Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.
* Sandys
* Prior
(obsolete) Unwary; unready.
(obsolete) Criminal; guilty.
(US) A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.
(obsolete) To make tardy.
To waste time in voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to trifle.
* Calamy
* Barrow
To interchange caresses, especially of a sexual nature; to use fondling; to wanton; to sport (compare dalliance)
* Shakespeare
To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
To wind the lasso rope (ie throw-rope) around the saddle horn (the saddle horn is attached to the pommel of a western style saddle) after the roping of an animal
* 2003 , Jameson Parker, An Accidental Cowboy , page 89:
Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in .
* 1947 - Bruce Kiskaddon, Rhymes and Ranches
As nouns the difference between tardy and dally
is that tardy is (us) a piece of paper given to students who are late to class while dally is several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in.As verbs the difference between tardy and dally
is that tardy is (obsolete|transitive) to make tardy while dally is to waste time in voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to trifle.As an adjective tardy
is late; overdue or delayed.tardy
English
Adjective
(er)- He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.
- His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.
- Check the tardy flight of time.
- tardy to vengeance, and with mercy brave
- (Hudibras)
- (Collier)
Synonyms
* (l), (l)Usage notes
* The term suggests habitual lateness. * Somewhat dated in the United Kingdom.Noun
(tardies)- The teacher gave her a tardy because she did not come into the classroom until after the bell.
See also
* tardy slipVerb
- (Shakespeare)
dally
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl)Verb
- We have trifled too long already; it is madness to dally any longer.
- We have put off God, and dallied with his grace.
- Not dallying with a brace of courtesans.
- The end of the top rope he dallied around the gooseneck trailer hitch.
Synonyms
* dilly-dallyEtymology 2
Possibly from (etyl) "da le la vuelta ! " ("twist it around !") by law of Hobson-Jobson.Noun
(dallies)- What matters is now if he tied hard and fast, / Or tumbled his steer with a dally .