different between delay vs cliffhanger

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *latjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjan? (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *le(y)d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijan? (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English l?fan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??le?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??le?/, /d?-/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Hyphenation: de?lay

Noun

delay (countable and uncountable, plural delays)

1. A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
2. (music) An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
3. (programming, Clojure) Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”)

Synonyms

• (period of time): cunctation, hold-up; see also Thesaurus:delay

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: delay

Translations

Verb

delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To put off until a later time; to defer.

   • My lord delayeth his coming.

2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To allay; to temper.
   • a. 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The faithful Lover declareth his Pains and his uncertain Joys, and with only Hope recomforteth somewhat his woful Heart

     The watery showers delay the raging wind.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (put off until a later time): adjourn, defer, forslow, penelopize, postpone, put off, put on ice, suspend; See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (retard): forslow, get in the way, hold up, impede; See also Thesaurus:hinder
• (allay): calm, moderate, quell; See also Thesaurus:pacify

Derived terms

• justice delayed is justice denied

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English delaien, from Old French delaiier, a variant of delaissier.

Verb

delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

1. (obsolete) To dilute, temper.
2. (obsolete) To assuage, quench, allay.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:

     Those dreadfull flames she also found delayd / And quenched quite like a consumed torch […].

Further reading

• delay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• delay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Adley, Daley, Leday, dealy, ladye, layed, leady

Maranao

Noun

delay

1. Job's tears

References

• A Maranao Dictionary, by Howard P. McKaughan and Batua A. Macaraya

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English delay.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.?lej/

Noun

delay m (plural delays)

1. (posh, except in technical contexts) delay (period of time before an event being initiated and actually occurring)

   Synonym: atraso

2. (audio engineering) delay (effect that produces echo-like repetitions in sound)
3. (audio engineering) delay (unit that produces a delay effect)

English

Alternative forms

• cliff hanger, cliff-hanger

Etymology

From cliff +? hanger, evoking the image of someone left hanging from a cliff, thereby having an uncertain fate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kl?f?hæ?.?(?)/

Noun

cliffhanger (plural cliffhangers)

1. (narratology) An ending or stopping point calculated to leave a story unresolved, in order to create suspense.
   • 2007, Hilary Hylton, "Filming Texas in a Good Light," Time, 2 Jul.:

     Back in the early 80s, the hit series Dallas kept the nation guessing with its season-ending cliffhanger "Who Shot J.R.?"

2. (by extension) An outcome which is awaited with keen anticipation, especially one which is delayed for a period of time or which is not known until the last minute.
   • 2008, Timothy Garton Ash, "Russia has run rings round the west," Guardian (UK), 28 Feb. (retrieved 2 Feb. 2009):

     This presidential election is such a cliffhanger. Will it be the rising star Dmitry "Obamovich" Medvedev? Or the veteran Gennady "McCainovich" Zyuganov?

Antonyms

• anticlimax

Derived terms

• cliffhang

Related terms

• cliffhanging

Translations

See also

• cliffhanger on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Dangler (plot device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia