dalliance

WOTD - 17 June 2010    

English

Etymology

From Middle English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈdalɪəns/
• (US) IPA: /ˈdæliəns/

Noun

dalliance (plural dalliances)

1. Playful flirtation; amorous play. [from 14th c.]
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book V, chapter xi

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

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• dallier
• dally
• dallying

Translations

playful flirtation

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

Russian: флирт (ru) (flirt) m., заигрывание (ru) (zaígryvanije) n., кокетство (ru) (kokétstvo) n. Scottish Gaelic: mànran (gd) 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 (bg) Finnish: ajan tappaminen (fi), notkuminen (fi), hengailu (fi), lorvailu (fi) French: baguenaudage (fr), perte de temps (fr), glandouillage (fr) Dutch: verspilling (nl), tijdverlies (nl), gelanterfanter (nl)

German: Trödelei (de) f. Russian: праздное времяпрепровождение (ru)

A sexual relationship, not serious but often illicit

Russian: интрижка (ru) f.