Meaning

noun time during which some action is awaited

noun the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time

verb cause to be slowed down or delayed

originFrom Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (“to leave, cause to…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0