tarry
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtæɹ.iː/
enpr: tăr'ē
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈtæɹ.i/
note: Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈtɛɹ.i/
note: Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈteɹ.i/
homophone: terry
homophone: Terry stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -æɹi
Forms: form: tarries
form: tarrying
form: tarried
form: tarried
form: tarrow
Etymology: From Middle English tarien, terien (“to vex, harass, cause to hesitate, delay”), from Old English tirian, tirġan, terġan (“to worry, exasperate, pain, provoke, excite”), from Proto-Germanic *terganą, *targijaną (“to pull, tease, irritate”), from Proto-Indo-European *derHgʰ- (“to pull, tug, irritate”). Cognate with Dutch tergen (“to provoke”), German zergen (“to vex, irritate, provoke”), Norwegian Bokmål terge (“to irritate, provoke”), Russian дёргать (djórgatʹ, “to pull, yank, jerk, pester”). Compare also Walloon tårdjî (“to be late, to be slow, to wait”).
Senses: examples: text: I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
ref: c. 1170, Maimonides, “Thirteen principles of faith”, in Mishneh Torah:
text: For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Habakkuk 2:3:
text: But so was Face, crouched before the fire in her banana skins, and so was Mug, smoking a cigarette and saying as he flicked the ash: “Why doth the bridegroom tarry?”
ref: 1918 August, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Bliss”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 126:
synonyms: word: forestall
word: put off
word: adjourn
word: avert
word: defer
word: delay
word: dilly-dally
word: draw out
word: extend
word: forslow
word: forestall
word: forestay
word: kick into the long grass
word: kick the can down the road
word: postpone
word: procrastinate
word: prolong
word: prorogue
word: prorogate
word: protract
word: put off
word: put on hold
word: put on ice
word: retard
word: stay
word: suspend
word: tarry
glosses: To delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything.
examples: text: And, thinking of to-morrow, when the church would rise up, singing, under the booming Sunday light, he thought of the light for which they tarried, which, in an instant, filled the soul, causing […] the new-born in Christ to testify: Once I was blind and now I see.
ref: 1953, James Baldwin, “Florence's Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:
synonyms: abide
glosses: To linger in expectation of something or until something is done or happens.
examples: text: [...] I have Thoughts to tarry a ſmall Matter in Town, to learn ſomewhat of your Lingo firſt, before I croſs the Seas.
ref: 1700, [William] Congreve, The Way of the World, a Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene xv, page 47:
synonyms: hang about
hang around
linger
loiter
glosses: To abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned.
examples: text: In this by-place of nature, there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane; who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow[…].
ref: 1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, published 1864:
synonyms: word: sojourn
word: stay
word: stay over
word: stop
word: stop over
word: keep
word: lodge
word: quarter
word: sleep over
word: sojourn
word: stay
word: stay over
word: stop
word: stop off
word: stop over
word: tarry
glosses: To stay somewhere temporarily.
examples: text: Fly, fly, my lord. There is no tarrying here.
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
text: He that will have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: "If I had heard otherwise," said the old man, looking up with a stern and menacing countenance, "you should have heard of it too." And he plodded on his way, tarrying no farther question.
ref: 1815, Walter Scott, chapter 8, in Guy Mannering, volume 1:
synonyms: word: await
word: wait on
word: abide
word: attend
word: await
word: bide
word: expect
word: hold up
word: keep
word: remain
word: stay
word: tarry
word: tend
word: wait
word: wait on
word: wait for
glosses: To wait for; to stay or stop for; to allow to linger.
Synonyms: word: abide
word: eld
word: linger
word: retard
word: stay
word: tarry
word: wait
Hypernyms: word: procrastinate
Hyponyms: word: hang back
word: stay behind
Derived terms: time and tide tarry for no man