dalliance

dalliance

English

WOTD – 17 June 2010

Etymology

From Middle English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdalɪəns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdæli.əns/

Noun

dalliance (countable and uncountable, plural dalliances)

1. Playful flirtation; amorous play. [from 14th c.]
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XI, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book V:

     As in the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind),

2. A wasting of time in idleness or trifles. [from 16th c.]
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/4/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     But, with a gesture, she put a period to this dalliance—one shouldn't palter so on an empty stomach, she might almost have said.

3. A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit.

Synonyms

• (playful flirtation): flirtation
• (a wasting of time): dawdling, idling, trifling
• (sexual relationship): affair

Related terms

• dallier
• dally
• dallying

Translations

playful flirtation

Bulgarian: флирт (bg) m (flirt) Dutch: flirt (nl), Finnish: flirtti (fi), flirttailu (fi), teerenpeli, peli (fi) French: flirt (fr), conter fleurette (fr), coquetage German: Liebesspiel (de) n

Greek: ερωτοτροπία (el) f (erototropía), χαριεντισμός (el) m (charientismós) Russian: флирт (ru) m (flirt), заи́грывание (ru) n (zaígryvanije), коке́тство (ru) n (kokétstvo) Scottish Gaelic: mànran m Spanish: coqueteo (es) m, requiebro (es) m, flirteo (es) m, galanteo (es) m

a wasting of time in idleness or trifles

Bulgarian: губене на време (gubene na vreme) Dutch: verspilling (nl), tijdverlies (nl), gelanterfanter Finnish: ajan tappaminen, notkuminen (fi), hengailu, lorvailu (fi) French: baguenaudage, perte de temps, glandouillage

German: Trödelei f Greek: χασομέρι (el) n (chasoméri) Russian: праздное времяпрепровожде́ние (prazdnoje vremjapreprovoždénije)

A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit

Russian: интрижка (ru) f (intrižka)

Spanish: devaneo (es), amorío

Anagrams

• allianced