To waste time in trifling employment; to trifle; to saunter.

To waste by trifling; as, to dawdle away a whole morning.

waste time; "Get busy--don't dally!"

Paul Virilio, noting that Socrates was invariably late (atopos) to every appointment, suggests that philosophy itself is born of "idle (often pointless) curiosity, born of the disappearance of physical effort once this becomes unnecessary." And let's not forget Oscar Wilde's injunction that "punctuality is the thief of time." Dawdle, then, by all means! See: FLÂNEUR.

take one's time; proceed slowly

hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.

A dawdler.