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iled Hannibal, harassing his army by marches, countermarches, and ambuscades; a policy of delays and cautions.

To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices. [political cant or slang, U.S.] Bartlett.

Growing languid, weak, or spiritless; weakening; delaying. -- Flag"ging*ly, adv.

To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay. Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear 1 Kinds xxii. 6.

To neglect by idleness; to delay or to waste by sloth. [Obs.] Spenser.

To delay; to hinder; to neglect; to put off. [Obs.] Bacon.

Immediately; without delay; directly. Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith. Acts ix. 18.

To be undetermined or uncertain; to be in suspense; to linger; to be delayed. A noble stroke he lifted high, Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell On the proud crest of Satan. Milton. To hang around, to loiter idly about. -- To hang back, to hesitate; to falter; to be reluctant. "If any one among you hangs ba…

Hastily; without delay or respite.

Without interval of time; without delay; promptly; instantly; at once. And Jesus . . . touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Matt. viii. 3.

To have time before pleading; to have delay for mutual adjustment. Blackstone.

Hence, the delay or continuance of a suit.

The quality of being impatient; want of endurance of pain, suffering, opposition, or delay; eagerness for change, or for something expected; restlessness; chafing of spirit; fretfulness; passion; as, the impatience of a child or an invalid. I then, . . . Out of my grief and my impatience, Answered neglectingly. Shak. W…

ient; not bearing with composure; intolerant; uneasy; fretful; restless, because of pain, delay, or opposition; eager for change, or for something expected; hasty; passionate; -- often followed by at, for, of, and under. A violent, sudden, and impatient necessity. Jer. Taylor. Fame, impatient of extremes, decays Not mo…

Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.

Without the least delay or interval; at once; immediately. Macaulay.

Neglect; negligence; remissness; neglect to do a thing at the proper time; delay to assert a claim. It ill became him to take advantage of such a laches with the eagerness of a shrewd attorney. Macaulay.

Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag end. "The lag end of my life." Shak.

after the time when due, or after the usual or proper time; not early; slow; tardy; long delayed; as, a late spring.

Inclined to delay; dilatory. [Obs.] "When a man is too latered." Chaucer.