delay
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈleɪ/
ipa: /dəˈleɪ/
ipa: /dɪ-/
rhymes: -eɪ
Forms: form: delays
Etymology: From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dally.
Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.
Senses: examples: text: the delay before the echo of a sound
text: Two twenty minutes' delays.
text: Without any delay, on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:17:
text: The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day.
ref: 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume 1, London: A. and W. Galignani & Co., published 1849, page 522:
text: In this article I'm thinking about the big delays, over two hours. While rare, they make the news and help to deter people from future rail travel, both travellers and news viewers.
ref: 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42:
glosses: A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
examples: text: The 8-bit sound quality of many early delays did indeed leave a lot to be desired (compare this to the 16-bit digital technology of CDs)
ref: 2014, Dave Hunter, Guitar Amps and Effects For Dummies, page 259:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”).
synonyms: word: promise
extra: object representing delayed result
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: An amount of time provided on each move before one's clock starts to tick; a less common time control than increment.
Synonyms: sense: period of time
word: cunctation
word: hold-up
word: deferment
word: delay
word: dilation
word: hesitance
word: hesitancy
word: hesitation
word: holdoff
word: postponement
word: prorogation
word: respite
Hypernyms: word: period
Hyponyms: word: lag
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
sciences
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
word: latency
topics: electronics
electricity
electrical-engineering
electromagnetism
energy
business
physics
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
engineering
medicine
sciences
Derived terms: broadcast delay
call delay
danger in delay
delay differential equation
delay line
delay slot
delay tactic
delay time
language delay
multidelay
predelay
profanity delay
propagation delay
rain delay
round-trip delay time
Shapiro delay
tape delay
time-delay
time delay
Related terms: word: delayed
word: pause
word: wait