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Wally vs Dally - What's the difference?

wally | dally |

As nouns the difference between wally and dally

is that wally is a fool while dally is several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in.

As verbs the difference between wally and dally

is that wally is alternate pronunciation (and hence spelling) of value while dally is to waste time in voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to trifle.

wally

English

Proper noun

(en proper noun)
  • A diminutive of the male given names Walter and Wallace.
  • * 2005 Joyce Carol Oates: Mother, Missing . Harper Perennial. page 108:
    • "'Mr. Szalla' is my eighty-two-year-old father, Nikki. Please call me 'Wally'."
    "Well. 'Wally'."
    I felt my face burn pleasantly. "Wally " was such a comfortable old-shoe kind of name.

    Anagrams

    * English diminutives of male given names

    dally

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Verb

  • To waste time in voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to trifle.
  • * Calamy
    • We have trifled too long already; it is madness to dally any longer.
  • * Barrow
    • We have put off God, and dallied with his grace.
  • To interchange caresses, especially of a sexual nature; to use fondling; to wanton; to sport (compare dalliance)
  • * Shakespeare
    • Not dallying with a brace of courtesans.
  • 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:
    • The end of the top rope he dallied around the gooseneck trailer hitch.
    Synonyms
    * dilly-dally

    Etymology 2

    Possibly from (etyl) "da le la vuelta ! " ("twist it around !") by law of Hobson-Jobson.

    Noun

    (dallies)
  • Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in .
  • * 1947 - Bruce Kiskaddon, Rhymes and Ranches
    • What matters is now if he tied hard and fast, / Or tumbled his steer with a dally .