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Webster 1913 Edition

Delay

De-lay′

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Delays
(#)
.
[F.
délai
, fr. OF.
deleer
to delay, or fr. L.
dilatum
, which, though really from a different root, is used in Latin only as a p. p. neut. of
differre
to carry apart, defer, delay. See
Tolerate
, and cf.
Differ
,
Delay
,
Verb.
]
A putting off or deferring; procrastination; lingering inactivity; stop; detention; hindrance.
Without any
delay
, on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat.
Acts xxv. 17.
The government ought to be settled without the
delay
of a day.
Macaulay.

De-lay′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Delayed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Delaying
.]
[OF.
deleer
,
delaier
, fr. the noun
délai
, or directly fr. L.
dilatare
to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put off. See
Delay
,
Noun.
, and cf.
Delate
, 1st
Defer
,
Dilate
.]
1.
To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the time of or before.
My lord
delayeth
his coming.
Matt. xxiv. 48.
2.
To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time; to retard the motion, or time of arrival, of;
as, the mail is
delayed
by a heavy fall of snow
.
Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft
delayed

The huddling brook to hear his madrigal.
Milton.
3.
To allay; to temper.
[Obs.]
The watery showers
delay
the raging wind.
Surrey.

De-lay′

,
Verb.
I.
To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry.
There seem to be certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of those ideas, . . . beyond which they can neither
delay
nor hasten.
Locke.

Webster 1828 Edition

Delay

DELAY

, v.t.
1.
To prolong the time of acting, or proceeding; to put off; to defer.
My lord delayeth his coming. Matt. 14.
2.
To retard; to stop, detain or hinder for a time; to restrain motion, or render it slow; as, the mail is delated by bad roads.
Thyrsis, whose artful strains have oft delayed
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal.
3.
To allay.

DELAY

,
Verb.
I.
To linger; to move slow; or to stop for a time.
There are certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of ideas, beyond which they can neither delay nor hasten.

DELAY

, n.
1.
A lingering; stay; stop.
2.
A putting off or deferring; procrastination; as, the delay of trial is not to be imputed to the plaintiff.
3.
Hinderance for a time.

Definition 2024

delay

delay

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈleɪ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Noun

delay ‎(plural delays)

  1. A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
    the delay before the echo of a sound
    • Bible, Acts xxv. 17
      Without any delay, on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat.
    • Macaulay
      The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day.
Translations

Verb

delay ‎(third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

  1. To put off until a later time; to defer.
    • Bible, Matthew xxiv. 48
      My lord delayeth his coming.
  2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
    The mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow.‎
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 10, in The Celebrity:
      Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.
  3. (obsolete) To allay; to temper.
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      The watery showers delay the raging wind.
Usage notes
  • This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
  • See also Wikisaurus:hinder
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French délayer, ultimately from Latin dis- + ligō.

Verb

delay ‎(third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

  1. (obsolete) To dilute, temper.
  2. (obsolete) To assuage, quench, allay.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:
      Those dreadfull flames she also found delayd / And quenched quite like a consumed torch […].

Anagrams

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English delay.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /de.ˈlej/

Noun

delay m (plural delays)

  1. (audio engineering) delay (effect that produces echo-like repetitions in the sound)
  2. (audio engineering) delay (unit that produces a delay effect)

Etymology

From Middle English delaien, from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier ‎(“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *latjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną ‎(“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *le(y)d- ‎(“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibjan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną ‎(“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leip- ‎(“to remain, continue”)). Akin to Old English latian ‎(“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu ‎(“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan ‎(“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

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