Delay — Defs

01 n. A putting off or deferring; procrastination; lingering inactivity; stop; detention; hindrance.

pl. Delays ((#))

1.
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.

02 v. t. To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the time of or before.

imp. & p. p. Delayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Delaying

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.

03 v. i. To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry.

1.
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.