tarry

Verb · Adjective
US[ter-ee]/ˈtɛri/2 syllables
Synonyms: loiterloungefootlelollygagloaflallygaghang aroundmess aboutlingerlurkmill aboutmill around

Open English WordNet

Verb (2)tarried, tarrying

  1. be about a place without any apparent purpose“The high school students like to loiter in the Central Square”“Who is this man that is hanging around the department?”Synonyms: loiterloungefootlelollygagloaflallygaghang aroundmess aboutlingerlurkmill aboutmill aroundMore general waitMore specific prowl, lurch
  2. leave slowly and hesitantlySynonyms: lingerMore general leave, go forth

Adjective (1)

  1. having the characteristics of pitch or tarSynonyms: pitchyresinousresinyOpposite nonadhesiveSimilar adhesive
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Tar′ry adjective

Origin: From Tar, noun

Consisting of, or covered with, tar; like tar.

Tar′ry intransitive verb [past tense & past participle Tarried; present participle & verbal noun Tarrying.]

Origin: OE. tarien to irritate (see Tarre); but with a change of sense probably due to confusion with OE. targen to delay, OF. targier, fr. (assumed) LL. tardicare, fr. L. tardare to make slow, to tarry, fr. tardus slow. Cf. Tardy.

1. To stay or remain behind; to wait.

Tarry ye for us, until we come again.— Ex. xxiv. 14.

2. To delay; to put off going or coming; to loiter.

Come down unto me, tarry not.— Gen. xic. 9.
One tarried here, there hurried one.— Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. To stay; to abide; to continue; to lodge.

Tarry all night, and wash your feet.— Gen. xix. 2.

Synonyms: To abide; continue; lodge; await; loiter.

Tar′ry transitive verb

1. To delay; to defer; to put off. obsolete

Tarry us here no longer than to-morrow.— Geoffrey Chaucer

2. To wait for; to stay or stop for. archaic

He that will have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.— William Shakespeare
He plodded on,... tarrying no further question.— Sir Walter Scott
Tar′ry noun

Stay; stop; delay. obsolete Edmund Lodge

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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