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Jan 2, 2009
This week's themeUncommon adverbs This week's words seriatim pell-mell withal imprimis shilly-shally This week's comments AWADmail 340 Next week's theme Miscellaneous words 
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with Anu Gargshilly-shally
PRONUNCIATION:
(SHIL-ee-shal-ee)
MEANING:
adverb: Hesitantly; irresolutely.adjective: Hesitant; vacillating. noun: Hesitation; vacillation. verb intr.: To vacillate; to dawdle.
ETYMOLOGY:
From reduplication of the question Shall I?
USAGE:
"We go after bigger things, and don't stand shilly-shally on the brink
as you do."Anthony Trollope; The Way We Live Now; 1875. See more usage examples of shilly-shally in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it -- and stop there -- lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
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