BE LATE &c. adj.; tarry, wait, stay, bide, take time; dawdle &c. (be inactive) [See Inactivity]; linger, loiter; bide one’s time, take one’s time; gain time; hang fire; stand over, lie over; hang, hang around or about [colloq.], hang back [colloq.], hang in the balance, hang in the hedge, hang up [colloq.], sit up for, stay up for.
PUT OFF, defer, delay, lay over, suspend; shift off, stave off; waive, retard, remand, postpone, adjourn; procrastinate; dally; prolong, protract; spin out, draw out, lengthen out; prorogue; keep back; tide over; push to the last, drive to the last; let the matter stand over; table, lay on the table, shelve; respite [rare], perendinate [rare]; reserve (store) [See Store]; temporize, filibuster [U. S.], stall [slang]; consult one’s pillow, sleep upon it.
BE KEPT WAITING, dance attendance; kick one’s heels [colloq.], cool one’s heels [colloq.]; faire antichambre [F.]; wait impatiently; await (expect) [See Expectation]; sit up, sit up at night; lose an opportunity [See Intempestivity].
LATE; backward, lateward [obs.], late in the day; at sunset, at the eleventh hour, at length, at last; ultimately; after time, behind time; too late; too late for [See Intempestivity].
SLOWLY, leisurely, deliberately, at one’s leisure; ex post facto [L.]; sine die [L.].
QUOTATIONS:
Nonum prematur in annum.—Horace
Against the sunbeams serotine and lucent.—Longfellow
È meglio tardi che mai.
Deliberando sœpe perit occasio.—Syrus
Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door.—Johnson
