(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ doing something, you do not do it immediately or at the planned or expected time, but you leave it until later.
For sentimental reasons I wanted to ~ my departure until June...
So don’t ~, write in now for your chance of a free gift.
= postpone
VERB: V n/-ing, V
2.
To ~ someone or something means to make them late or to slow them down.
Can you ~ him in some way?...
The passengers were ~ed for an hour.
= hold up
VERB: V n, V n
3.
If you ~, you deliberately take longer than necessary to do something.
If he ~ed any longer, the sun would be up.
VERB: V
4.
If there is a ~, something does not happen until later than planned or expected.
Although the tests have caused some ~, flights should be back to normal this morning.
= hold-up
N-VAR
5.
Delay is a failure to do something immediately or in the required or usual time.
We’ll send you a quote without ~.
N-UNCOUNT