Delay | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

De-lāy', v. t.

verbtransitive

(de-lā'), v. t. [imp. & p. p. DELAYED; p. pr. & vb. n. DELAYING.] [O. Fr. delayer, deléier, di-laier, O. It. dilajare. See infra, and cf. DILATE.] 1. To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong. My lord delayeth his coming. Matt. xxiv. 48. 2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time; to retard the motion of; as, the mail is delayed by bad roads. Thyrsis, whose artful strains have oft delayed / The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. Milton. 3. To allay. [Obs.] The watery showers delay the raging wind. Surrey.

De-lāy', v. i.

verbintransitive

(de-lā'), v. i. To move slowly; to stop for a time; to linger; to tarry.

There are certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of ideas, beyond which they can neither delay nor hasten. Locke.

De-lāy', n.

noun

(de-lā'), n. [Fr. délai, from Lat. dilatum, from differre, to carry apart, to defer, put off, delay; It. delata, f., delay.]

A putting off or deferring; procrastination. “Every artifice of concealment or delay.” Hallam.
A lingering; stay; stop; detention; hinderance.

The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day. Macaulay.