Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To dawdle: To waste time by being slow, idle, or lingering unnecessarily over a task or conversation. It implies a lack of urgency and a tendency to procrastinate or extend something beyond a reasonable duration.
   • To linger: To spend a long time over something, often in a slow, unhurried, and sometimes annoying manner.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Đừng kề cà nữa, chúng ta sắp muộn rồi. (Stop dawdling, we're going to be late.)
  • Cậu bé kề cà mãi không chịu làm bài tập. (The boy dawdled and wouldn't do his homework.)
  • Câu chuyện đơn giản vậy mà anh ta kề cà kể cả tiếng đồng hồ. (It was a simple story, yet he dawdled in telling it for a whole hour.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a mildly negative or critical connotation, suggesting irritation at the slowness or lack of efficiency in another person's actions.
• It is frequently used to describe prolonged and inefficient talking, eating, or completing simple tasks.

Variants and Related Words

• Kề cà kể lể (verb phrase): To dawdle while complaining or telling a long, tedious story.
  • Bà ấy kề cà kể lể về những khó khăn của mình. (She dawdled on, complaining about her difficulties.)

Synonyms

• Dawdle: To waste time; to be slow.
• Linger: To stay in a place longer than necessary.
• Procrastinate: To delay or postpone action.
• Dilly-dally: To waste time through indecision or aimless action.

Related Idioms

• Kề cà kể chuyện tào lao: To dawdle while telling pointless stories.
  • Thôi đừng kề cà kể chuyện tào lao, tập trung vào vấn đề đi. (Stop dawdling with pointless stories, focus on the issue.)

1. Dawdle
   • Kề cà kể mãi một câu chuyện không xong
     To dawdle in telling interminably a story