Etymology Journal ยท E
Enough dilly-dallying!
Meaning
- A sharp command to stop wasting time and get moving. It expresses impatience with indecision or laziness.
Firm, impatient
Used in a sentence
- Enough dilly-dallying, we are going to be late for the movie.
- I have told you twice to clean your room, so enough dilly-dallying.
- We have a schedule to keep, so enough dilly-dallying and get to work.
The backstory
Dilly-dally is a reduplicative word that has been around since the 17th century. It comes from the older verb dally, which means to waste time or act with indecision.
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