Definition of "dawdle"

(transitive) Chiefly followed by away: to spend (time) without haste or purpose.  quotations  examples

(intransitive)

1. To spend time idly and unfruitfully; to waste time.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Tell him, if he'll call on me, and davvdle over a diſh of tea in an afternoon, I ſhall take it kind.

     1791, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, “”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume II, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], page 405

   • Mr. Collins was not left long to the silent contemplation of his successful love; for Mrs. Bennett, having dawdled about in the vestibule to watch for the end of the conference, no sooner saw Elizabeth open the door and with quick step pass he towards the staircase, than she entered the breakfast-room, and congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on the happy prospect of their nearer connection.

     1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XX, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], page 255

   • You all know when you learn with a will, and when you dawdle. There's no doubt of conscience about that, I suppose?

     1866, John Ruskin, “Crystal Virtues”, in The Ethics of the Dust: Ten Lectures to Little Housewives on the Elements of Crystallisation, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], page 90

   • There are no idlers here; the only loungers are those who have undertaken for hire to do other people's business, and the hireling dawdleth because he is an hireling. What is his master's business to him? he neither knows its importance nor yet cares he if it be neglected.

     1888, [Julia Clara Byrne], chapter X, in De Omnibus Rebus: An Old Man’s Discursive Ramblings on the Road of Everyday Life […], John C. Nimmo […], pages 263–264

   • White creature wholly white, thou winter-coloured imp, tongue-shaped and slippery, 'wall-streak' and 'rubbish of the floor,' that livest 'neath timbers of a house, that dawdlest underneath the nook, […]

     1898, John Abercromby, “Charms of the East Finns, Russians, Letts, etc.”, in The Pre- and Proto-historic Finns: Both Eastern and Western with the Magic Songs of the West Finns, volume II, London: David Nutt […], § 86 (Against the Cow-house Snake), subsection b, page 172

   • However all [Wayne] Hennessey's good work went to waste on 52 minutes when he dawdled on the ball.

     2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 – 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 2023-02-03

2. To move or walk lackadaisically.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [W]e, who, in muddy boots, dawdle up and down Pall Mall, and peep into the coaches as they drive up with the great folks in their feathers— […]

     1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which the Reader is Introduced to the Very Best of Company”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, page 427

   • […] I began to wonder if this Arthur were really the same lad she used to pet and think so much of when he came down to Leatherhead and dawdled with my Lady and Bell along the Surrey lanes of an evening.

     1872, William Black, “Saved!”, in The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 267

   • Blessed are the drivers who dawdleth not in the fast lane.A deliberate use of an archaic form of the word.

     2005, Charles Manley Brown, “Laws and Regulations”, in Thou Shalt Not Take Thyself too … Seriously: The Lighter Side of the Golden Years, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, page 68

An act of spending time idly and unfruitfully; a dawdling.  examples

An act of moving or walking lackadaisically, a dawdling; a leisurely or slow walk or other journey.  quotations  examples

Synonym of dawdler (“a person who dawdles or idles”)  quotations  examples

Alternative spelling of doddle (“a job, task, or other activity that is easy to complete or simple”)  quotations  examples