tardy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɑːdi/
ipa: /ˈtɑɹdi/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)di
Forms: form: tardier
form: tardiest
Etymology: From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.
Senses: examples: text: He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.
text: When everything is ended, then you come. / These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life, / One time or other break some gallows’ back.
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: Men of genius anticipate their contemporaries, and know they are such, long before the tardy consent of the public.
ref: 1795, Isaac D’Israeli, chapter 9, in An Essay on the Manners and Genius of the Literary Character, London: T. Cadell Jr. and W. Davies, page 122:
text: As a matter of fact, the luncheon fare, when it made its tardy appearance, was distinctly unworthy of the reputation which the justly-treasured cook had built up for herself.
ref: 1914, Saki, “The Stake”, in Beasts and Super-Beasts, London: John Lane, pages 202–203:
text: And the Black Muslims, along with many people who are not Muslims, no longer wish for a recognition so grudging and (should it ever be achieved) so tardy.
ref: 1963, James Baldwin, “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind”, in The Fire Next Time, New York: Dial, page 87:
glosses: Late; overdue or delayed.
examples: text: […] fashions in proud Italy, / Whose manners still our tardy apish nation / Limps after in base imitation.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: Nor should their Age by Yeares be told: / Whose Souls, more swift then Motion, clime; / And check the tardy Flight of Time.
ref: 1638, George Sandys, “(please specify the part or chapter)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Divine Poems, London: […] Iohn Legatt, →OCLC:
text: In various Views she tries her constant Theme; / Finds him, in Councils, and in Arms, the same: / When certain to o’ercome, inclin’d to save; / Tardy to Vengeance; and with Mercy brave.
ref: 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Carmen Seculare, For the Year 1700. To the King”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 151:
text: […] a disease which medicine never cured, wealth never warded off, or poverty could boast exemption from; which sometimes moves in giant strides, and sometimes at a tardy sluggish pace, but, slow or quick, is ever sure and certain.
ref: 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Chronicles the further Proceedings of the Nickleby Family, and the Sequel of the Adventure of the Gentleman in the Small-clothes”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:
text: These berries […] are a deadly and insidious poison, though very tardy in their action, often lying dormant in the blood for many days.
ref: 1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 19, in Lud-in-the-Mist, Millennium, published 2000:
text: After the introduction of the Highland Railway class, the progress of the 4-6-0 was tardy for some years.Then, when designers were increasingly turning to it as the answer to their growing motive power problems, production of 4-6-0s swelled into a flood tide.
ref: 1954 November, Frank Hewitt, “The First Decade of British 4-6-0 Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 747:
text: And the youngest of the family
Is moving with authority
Building castles by the sea
He dares the tardy tide
To wash them all aside.
ref: 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:
glosses: Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.
examples: text: His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.
glosses: Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.
examples: text: Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay.
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: Yield, Scoundrel base (quoth she) or die; / Thy life is mine, and liberty. / But if thou think’st I took thee tardy, / And dar’st presume to be so hardy, / To try thy fortune o’re afresh, / I’le wave my title to thy flesh,
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto III.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 104:
glosses: Unwary; unready (especially in the phrase take (someone) tardy).
examples: text: And the Franks served the Men much the same ſauce when they found them tardy, and made them run their Heats through the Streets
ref: 1697, Jeremy Collier, Essays upon Several Moral Subjects:
glosses: Criminal; guilty.
Synonyms: sense: late, overdue, not on time
word: belated
sense: late, overdue, not on time
word: delayed
Derived terms: tardily
tardiness