Definition

1. Verb (intransitive):

   • To move or act slowly; to take more time than necessary to do something.
   • To waste time; to spend time idly or aimlessly.

2. Verb (transitive):

   • To waste or spend (time) in a slow, idle, or aimless manner.

Usage

• Intransitive Verb: Used to describe a person's slow or idle behavior.
  • Don't dawdle on your way to school.
  • She dawdled over her coffee, reading the newspaper.
• Transitive Verb: Used with "away" to indicate wasting a period of time.
  • He dawdled away the whole afternoon.
  • We must not dawdle our time.

Examples

• Intransitive Use:
  • If you continue to dawdle, we will be late for the movie.
  • The children dawdled along the path, looking at every flower.
• Transitive Use (with "away"):
  • He dawdled away his youth without learning a trade.
  • It's easy to dawdle away a beautiful summer day.

Advanced Usage

• "To dawdle over something": To spend an excessive amount of time doing something slowly.
  • He tends to dawdle over his meals.
• "To dawdle along": To move forward very slowly.
  • The old car dawdled along the country road.

Variants and Related Words

• Dawdler (noun): A person who dawdles.
  • He's such a dawdler; he's always the last to arrive.
• Dawdling (adjective or gerund):
  • Her dawdling pace annoyed her faster friends. (adjective)
  • His constant dawdling makes him inefficient. (gerund)

Synonyms

• Dally: To act or move slowly; to waste time.
• Linger: To stay in a place longer than necessary.
• Loiter: To stand or wait around idly.
• Procrastinate: To delay or postpone action.

Phrasal Verbs

• Dawdle away: To waste a period of time idly.
  • She dawdled away the morning window-shopping.

Related Idioms

• "Dawdle one's time away": To waste time through slow, idle actions.
  • He had no ambition and was content to dawdle his time away.

Verb

1. hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.
2. waste time
   • Get busy--don't dally!
3. take one's time; proceed slowly