27 May 2017
dilatory
[dil-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee]
adjective
1. tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy.
2. intended to cause delay, gain time, or defer decision:
Origin of dilatory
Latin, Middle English, Anglo-French
1250-1300; Middle English (Anglo-French); Latin dīlātōrius, equivalent to dīlā-, suppletive stem of differre to postpone (see differ ) + -tōrius -tory1
Related forms
dilatorily, adverb
dilatoriness, noun
undilatorily, adverb
undilatory, adjective
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for dilatory
Contemporary Examples
Decision making is slow, acquisition processes are dilatory, and maintenance of the equipment bought is poor.
India’s Tryst with Terror
Kanwal Sibal
September 8, 2011
Historical Examples
His dilatory action seemed to increase the young woman’s panic.
A Rock in the Baltic
Robert Barr
He had been dilatory but now he intended to get down to business.
The Lady Doc
Caroline Lockhart
The want of proper arrangement and sufficient hands made this a most dilatory and tedious operation.
Lands of the Slave and the Free
Henry A. Murray
I had received more than a dilatory donkey on the road to the fair!
The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 28, April 1893
Various
He had never been quite satisfied with Lincoln, whose policy seemed to him too dilatory.
McClure’s Magazine, Vol 31, No 2, June 1908
Various
They were as slow and dilatory as the others were eager and persistent.
Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15)
Charles Morris
The King wished to regain Paris by negotiation; all his movements were dilatory.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume VII
John Lord
Spring is the most dilatory and provoking of all the seasons at Halifax.
Bert Lloyd’s Boyhood
J. McDonald Oxley
He was temporizing, making, with unconscious prudence, a dilatory opposition to an impending catastrophe.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Vol. II: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
Ambrose Bierce
Anagram
idolatry
dial troy
oily dart
Today’s quote
There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.
– William Butler Yeats
On this day
27 May – 3 June – National Reconciliation Week, which is celebrated in Australia every year on these dates. The dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey — the anniversaries of the successful 1967 referendum (27 May) and the High Court Mabo decision (3 June 1992). The 1967 referendum saw over 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and recognise them in the national census. On 3 June, 1992, the High Court of Australia delivered its landmark Mabo decision which legally recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a special relationship to the land—that existed prior to colonalisation and still exists today. This recognition paved the way for land rights called Native Title. 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the Mabo decision. http://www.reconciliation.org.au/nrw
27 May 1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the Russian city of St Petersburg.
27 May 1907 – bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco.
27 May 1911 – birth of Vincent Price, American actor, starred in a number of horror films, including House of Wax, House of Usher and The Raven. He also acted in the 1960s television series Batman, in which he played the evil mastermind, Egghead; a master criminal with a fixation on eggs. Price provided a voice-over on Alice Cooper’s 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare. In 1976, Price recorded a cover version of Bobby Pickett song, Monster Mash. Died 25 October 1993.
27 May 1922 – birth of Christopher Lee, CBE, English actor and singer. Lee starred in hammer horror movies, including Dracula (in which he played the title character), Dracula has risen from the grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, and Scars of Dracula. Fearing that he would become type-cast in horror roles as had happened to Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, he went in search of other roles. Lee starred in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. He played Saruman in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies, and Count Dooku in two of the Star Wars prequel films, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Died 7 June 2015.