資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Delay \De*lay"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Delayed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Delaying}.] [OF. deleer, delaier, fr. the noun d['e]lai, or
directly fr. L. dilatare to enlarge, dilate, in LL., to put
off. See {Delay}, n., and cf. {Delate}, 1st {Defer},
{Dilate}.]
1. To put off; to defer; to procrastinate; to prolong the
time of or before.
My lord delayeth his coming. --Matt. xxiv.
48.
2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time; to
retard the motion, or time of arrival, of; as, the mail is
delayed by a heavy fall of snow.
Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft delayed The
huddling brook to hear his madrigal. --Milton.
3. To allay; to temper. [Obs.]
The watery showers delay the raging wind. --Surrey.