From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
delay
n 1: time during which some action is awaited; "instant replay
caused too long a delay"; "he ordered a hold in the action"
[syn: delay, hold, time lag, postponement, wait]
2: the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being
put off until a later time [syn: delay, holdup]
v 1: cause to be slowed down or delayed; "Traffic was delayed by
the bad weather"; "she delayed the work that she didn't
want to perform" [syn: delay, detain, hold up] [ant:
hurry, rush]
2: act later than planned, scheduled, or required; "Don't delay
your application to graduate school or else it won't be
considered"
3: stop or halt; "Please stay the bloodshed!" [syn: stay,
detain, delay]
4: slow the growth or development of; "The brain damage will
retard the child's language development" [syn: check,
retard, delay]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Delay \De*lay"\, n.; pl. Delays. [F. d['e]lai, 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, v.]
A putting off or deferring; procrastination; lingering
inactivity; stop; detention; hindrance.
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Without any delay, on the morrow I sat on the judgment
seat. --Acts xxv.
17.
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The government ought to be settled without the delay of
a day. --Macaulay.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Delay \De*lay"\, v. i.
To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry.
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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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Delay \De*lay"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delayed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Delaying.] [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun d['e]lai, or
directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put
off. See Delay, n., and cf. Delate, 1st Defer,
Dilate.]
1. To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the
time of or before.
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My lord delayeth his coming. --Matt. xxiv.
48.
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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.
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Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. --Milton.
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3. To allay; to temper. [Obs.]
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The watery showers delay the raging wind. --Surrey.
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