dally

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdælɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdæli/

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• Rhymes: -æli

From Middle English dalyen, from Anglo-Norman delaier

dally (third-person singular simple present dallies, present participle dallying, simple past and past participle dallied)

1. To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.
   • (Can we date this quote by Calamy?)

     We have trifled too long already; it is madness to dally any longer.

   • (Can we date this quote by Barrow?)

     We have put off God, and dallied with his grace.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, Richard III

     Not dallying with a brace of courtesans.

3. To delay unnecessarily; to while away.
4. To wind the lasso rope (ie throw-rope) around the saddle horn (the saddle horn is attached to the pommel of a western style saddle) after the roping of an animal
   • 2003, Jameson Parker, An Accidental Cowboy, page 89:

     The end of the top rope he dallied around the gooseneck trailer hitch.

• dilly-dally

Possibly from Spanish "dale la vuelta !" ("twist it around !") by law of Hobson-Jobson.

dally (plural dallies)

1. Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in roping.
   • 1947 - Bruce Kiskaddon, Rhymes and Ranches

     What matters is now if he tied hard and fast, / Or tumbled his steer with a dally.

• d'y'all, y'all'd