dally

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++dal·ly /ˈdæli/ verb (dallied, dallying, dallies) [intransitive]  1  SLOWto take too long to do something, especially to make a decision 磨蹭，拖拉 After months of dallying, the government has finally agreed to allow the plan to go ahead. 拖了几个月后，政府终于同意实施这个方案。2  SPEND TIMEto spend some time in a place, on your way to somewhere else 〔途中〕逗留 He dallied in the Lake District for a while, then crossed to Belgium. 他在湖区稍作停留，然后穿过海峡到达比利时。3 dally with somebody/something phrasal verb a) THINK ABOUTto do something or think about something, but not in a very serious way 随便地做；不十分认真地考虑 They’ve dallied with the idea of touring round the world. 他们有过环游世界的念头，但只是想想而已。b) RELATIONSHIP old-fashioned to have a romantic relationship with someone, but not in a serious way 与有…一段随便的感情→ See Verb table

Examples from the Corpus

dally• Marshall complained that lawmakers dallied too long on major legislation.Origin dally (1300-1400) Anglo-French dalier

dal·ly verbChineseSyllable  

long do make to a take Corpus especially to something, to too

dally
dal‧ly /ˈdæli/ verb (past tense and past participle dallied, present participle dallying, third person singular dallies) [intransitive]1. to take too long to do something, especially to make a decision:
    After months of dallying, the government has finally agreed to allow the plan to go ahead.
2. to spend some time in a place, on your way to somewhere else:
    He dallied in the Lake District for a while, then crossed to Belgium.
     
dally with somebody/something phrasal verb
  1. to do something or think about something, but not in a very serious way:
    They’ve dallied with the idea of touring round the world.
  2. old-fashioned to have a romantic relationship with someone, but not in a serious way

dallyBrE /ˈdæli/ 🔊NAmE /ˈdæli/ 🔊 verbpresent simple - I / you / we / they dally BrE /ˈdæli/ 🔊 NAmE /ˈdæli/ 🔊present simple - he / she / it dallies BrE /ˈdæliz/ 🔊 NAmE /ˈdæliz/ 🔊past simple dallied BrE /ˈdælid/ 🔊 NAmE /ˈdælid/ 🔊past participle dallied BrE /ˈdælid/ 🔊 NAmE /ˈdælid/ 🔊 -ing form dallying BrE /ˈdæliɪŋ/ 🔊 NAmE /ˈdæliɪŋ/ 🔊 [intransitive] (old-fashioned) to do sth too slowly; to take too much time making a decision 蹉跎（时光）；延误；拖拉 ●ˈdally with sb/sth(old-fashioned) to treat sb/sth in a way that is not serious enough 轻率地对待；玩弄；戏弄  ➡  see also dilly-dally