Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class I. Words Expressing Abstract Relations
Section VI. Time
3. Time with reference to an Effect or Purpose

133. Lateness.

   NOUN:LATENESS &c. adj.; tardiness (slowness) [See Slowness].
  DELAY, cunctation [rare] tarriance, moration [rare], delation [archaic], procrastination; deferring &c. v.; postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite; protraction, prolongation; after-time; circumlocution office [ridicule], “circumlocution court” [Dickens], chancery suit, Fabian policy, médecine expectante [F.], moratorium; leeway; high time; truce, reprieve, demurrage; stop, stay, suspension, remand.
   VERB: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].
   ADJECTIVE:LATE, tardy, slow, cunctatious or cunctative [rare], behindhand, serotine [rare], belated, postliminary [rare], posthumous, backward, unpunctual, impunctual [rare], overdue, moratory; dilatory (slow) [See Slowness]; delayed &c. v.; in abeyance.
   ADVERB: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:

1. Nonum prematur in annum.—Horace
2. Against the sunbeams serotine and lucent.—Longfellow
3. È meglio tardi che mai.
4. Deliberando sœpe perit occasio.—Syrus
5. Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door.—Johnson