Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1700-1800
Origin: dally

dilly-dally

 verb
     
dil‧ly-dal‧ly past tense and past participle dilly-dallied, present participle dilly-dallying, third person singular dilly-dallies [intransitive]
to waste time, because you cannot decide about something:
Don't dilly-dally, just get on with it!
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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