dawdle

Plural: dawdles

Verb

Verb Forms: dawdled, dawdling, dawdles

To waste time; to move slowly and aimlessly.
take one's time; proceed slowly
waste time
hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.
Chiefly followed by away: to spend (time) without haste or purpose.
To spend time idly and unfruitfully; to waste time.
To move or walk lackadaisically.

Noun

An act of spending time idly and unfruitfully; a dawdling.
An act of moving or walking lackadaisically, a dawdling; a leisurely or slow walk or other journey.
Synonym of dawdler (“a person who dawdles or idles”).
Alternative spelling of doddle (“a job, task, or other activity that is easy to complete or simple”).

Examples

Don’t dawdle over your turn; other Words With Friends players are waiting!
If you dawdle on your daily walk, you won’t get as much exercise.
to dawdle away the whole morning

Origin / Etymology

The verb is possibly:
* a variant of daddle (“(Britain, dialectal) to walk or work slowly, dawdle, saunter, trifle”) or doddle (“(Britain, dialectal) to walk feebly or slowly, dawdle, idle, saunter, stroll”), possibly influenced by daw (“(Britain, dialectal) lazy, good-for-nothing person, sluggard”); or
* borrowed from Middle Low German dȫdelen (“to dawdle”), related to Saterland Frisian döädelje (“to dawdle”); compare also German daddeln (“to play”), German verdaddeln (“to waste (time), neglect, ruin”). All of these words are assumed to be of imitative origin.
The noun is derived from the verb.

Synonyms

dally, fall back, fall behind, lag, linger, arse about, arse around, bludge, bum around, cabbage, clown around, dawdle, dawdler, dick about, dick around, diddle, dilly-dally, dretch, drumble, faff, faff about, faff around, fanny about, fanny around, fart about, fart around, fiddle about, fiddle around, fool about, fool around, footle, forslow, goof around, goof off, hang about, hang around, hang out, horse around, idle, jerk off, lallygag, lamp, laze, laze about, laze around, loaf, loaf about, loaf around, loiter, lollop, lollygag, mess around, mill about, mill around, muck about, muck around, piddle, pingle, stand by, take one's time, tarry, tool around, waste time, while

Antonyms

rush

Scrabble Score: 11

dawdle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
dawdle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
dawdle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

dawdle: valid Words With Friends Word