De*lay" , v. i. To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry.
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.
De*lay" , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delayed (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Delaying.]
[OF. deleer,
delaier, fr. the noun
délai, 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.
My lord delayeth his coming.
Matt. xxiv. 48. 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.
Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed
The huddling
brook to hear his madrigal.
Milton.
3. To allay; to temper. [Obs.]
The watery showers delay the raging wind.
Surrey.
De*lay" (?), n.;
pl. Delays (#). [F. délai, 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.
Without any delay, on the morrow I
sat on the judgment seat.
Acts xxv. 17. The government ought to be settled without the delay of a
day.
Macaulay.
Hear it pronounced