noun
definition
A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
example
the delay before the echo of a sound
definition
An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
verb
definition
To put off until a later time; to defer.
definition
To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
example
The mail is delayed by a heavy fall of snow.
definition
To allay; to temper.
Examples of delay in a Sentence
The delay ended up being four hours.
A'Ran approached her then, knowing his journey in the morning would delay the conversation they needed to have.
He believed that the Union could be saved without a war, and that a policy of delay would prevent the secession of the border states, which in turn would gradually coax their more southern neighbours back into their proper relations with the Federal government.
She had come prepared for such an emergency, but any delay might prove embarrassing.
It was not without a struggle, and delay, far into the night.
The ice climbers decided to get in a quick climb and blame their delay returning home on the cops.
The cause of the delay was Natasha's skirt, which was too long.
But, although ready drafted, many circumstances conspired to delay its presentation.
Lay your respect and confidence at his feet and do not delay to unite with us!
Barras, after a calculating delay, followed suit.
Some delay was caused in beginning operations by Cromwell's dangerous illness, during which his life was despaired of; but in June he was confronting Leslie entrenched in the hills near Stirling, impregnable to attack and refusing an engagement.
After some delay the king assented to it provided that Prussia were held as a Polish fief; and after this arrangement had been confirmed by a treaty made at Cracow, Albert was invested with the duchy by Sigismund for himself and his heirs on the 10th of February 1525.
A strength such that there is a delay of 4 or 5 minutes before any effect is apparent will be found suitable, but no great nicety of adjustment is necessary.
This was deflected by Kitchener westward to follow up the Boer rearguard, and after some delay the remainder of the infantry, at first fronting northwards, swerved westward likewise, while French from Kimberley, with such of his men as he could mount on serviceable horses, headed off Cronje in the north-west.
My father then insisted on a delay of a year and now already six months, half of that period, have passed, and my resolution is firmer than ever.
In Germany, at his instigation, the archbishops with a few of the secular nobles in 1246 elected Henry Raspe, landgrave of Thuringia, German king; but the "priests' king," as he was contemptuously called, died in the following year, William II., count of Holland, being after some delay elected by the papal party in his stead.
Though there was no advantage in sending Friant's division instead of Claparede's, and even an obvious inconvenience and delay in stopping Claparede and sending Friant now, the order was carried out exactly.
He dallied till the end of August, many weeks after the defeat, when the coming of Syracusan reinforcements decided him to depart; but on the 27th of that month was an eclipse of the moon, on the strength of which he insisted on a delay of almost another month.
The estimated cost was between three and four millions sterling, to be met by a toll, and it was urged that a uniform depth, independent of tides, would be ensured above the dam, that delay of large vessels wishing to proceed up river would thus be obviated, that the river would be relieved of pollution by the tides, and the necessity for constant dredging would be abolished.
Why, she'll rush out more dead than alive just in the things she is wearing; if you delay at all there'll be tears and 'Papa' and 'Mamma,' and she's frozen in a minute and must go back--but you wrap the fur cloak round her first thing and carry her to the sleigh.
Napoleon entered the town hard on their heels, but the broken bridge caused a delay of four days, there being no pontoon trains with the army.
The policy of delay in the execution of the plot which the Uitlander leaders found themselves compelled to adopt was determined by a variety of causes.
Negotiations could only bring the conflict a little nearer, delay it a little longer, or supply an opportunity to either side to justify its action in the eyes of the world.
But one cannot delay, Prince, at such a moment!
If you think you have a problem, don't delay, seeking help is the best thing you can do.
Certain homilies, accordingly, composed by dignitaries of the lower house, were in the following year produced by the prolocutor; and after some delay a volume was published in 1547 entitled Certain sermons or homilies appointed by the King's Majesty to be declared and read by all parsons, vicars, or curates every Sunday in their churches where they have cure.
After much delay and grumbling he fulfilled his bargain with Leopold and gave up Schwiebus in 1695.
I apologize for the delay in sending this.
There may be a slight delay whilst your details are checked.
They are learning how to inhibit themselves and delay gratification.
But the countess' health obliged them to delay their departure from day to day.
Emotional outbursts are non-productive, overshadow the point of the discussion and delay reaching solutions.
Ensure all information is accurate since mistakes will only delay the process.
Tobacco use comes at the top of the list of legal habits which can delay conception.
After some delay the British government decided to return no definite answer to this proposal, a result due, as Talleyrand thought, to the Gallophobe views of King George and of the ministers Camden and Thurlow.
Then followed weary years of ruinous delay and official inquiry, during which Hobson died after founding Auckland.
But partly owing to the delay in making contact through the carriage down of air on the contact piece, and partly owing to the delay in establishing full current through selfinduction, the attracting force does not rise at once to its full value in the outgoing journey, whereas in the return journey the mercury tends to follow up the contact piece, and the full current continues up to the instant of break.
But there is a slight delay in ignition, partly due to expulsion of incombustible gas drawn into the jet tube in the previous half period, so that the most copious supply of gas and heat is thrown into the quarter period just preceding greatest pressure, and the vibration is maintained.
His own caprices interposed some delay in the conferring of a pension which George III.
This would have meant an almost indefinite delay, for how was it possible to decide the exact rights of all the different states to a voice in affairs ?
After some delay and desultory fighting, he and his uncle, Azim Khan, occupied Kabul (March 1866).
The delay, together with the proposal of John Jay, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs and commissioner to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Spanish envoy, to surrender navigation rights on the lower Mississippi for twenty-five years in order to remove the one obstacle to the negotiations, aroused so much feeling that General James Wilkinson and a few other leaders began to intrigue not only for a separation from Virginia, but also from the United States, and for the formation of a close alliance with the Spanish at New Orleans.
Ricci replied with the historical answer, Sint ut sunt, aut non sint; and after some further delay, during which much interest was exerted in their favour, the Jesuits were suppressed by an edict in November 1764, but suffered to remain on the footing of secular priests, a grace withdrawn in 1767, when they were expelled from the kingdom.
That city was taken by General Scott after a siege and bombardment (March 7 to 29, 1847); and after winning the battle of Cerrogordo (April 18), and a long delay at Puebla, Scott marched on Mexico City, stormed its defences against greatly superior forces, and effected an entrance after severe fighting on the 13th of September 1847.
The frontier was then swiftly carried across the eastern half of the central plains, but found a second delay in its advance occasioned by the dry climate of the western plains.
This sort of dual control works with less friction and delay than might have been expected, but better appointments would probably be secured if responsibility were more fully and more clearly fixed on the president alone, though there would no doubt be a risk that the president might make a serious error.
This celebrated treaty belongs rather to the history of Germany than to a life of Mazarin; but two questions have been often asked, whether Mazarin did not delay the peace as long as possible in order to more completely ruin Germany, and whether Richelieu would have made a similar peace.
Though deeply mortified at the loss of the command, Wellesley in his devotion to duty moved the troops on his own responsibility from Trincomalee to Bombay, from the conviction that, if they were to be of any use in Egypt, it was absolutely necessary that they should provision at Bombay without delay.
Weighing the dangers of delay, of retreat, and of an attack with his single division of 4500 men, supported only by 5000 native levies of doubtful quality, Wellesley convinced himself that an immediate attack, though against greatly superior forces (30,000 horse, io,000 European-drilled infantry and loo well-served guns) in a strong position, was the wisest course.
The political effect was great, but the delay gave the French northern army time to rally.