Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French delai, Middle French, French †delay (now délai ) the action of deferring or postponing something, procrastination, also an instance of this (late 12th cent.; frequently in sanz delai ) < delaier delay v.¹ Compare delay v.¹With forms in di- , dy- compare discussion at delay v.¹

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French delaier, Anglo-Norman and Middle French deslaier, Middle French delayer, dilayer (French dilayer ) to postpone, defer (action, an event) (early 12th cent.), to impede the progress of (a person or thing) (13th cent.), to tarry (13th cent.), to keep (a person) waiting (13th cent.), further etymology uncertain and disputed. Compare delay n.Compare Old Occitan delaiar . Ulterior etymology of the French verb. For formal reasons the French verb cannot be directly < post-classical Latin dilatare dilate v.¹ The most commonly cited etymology (for which see e.g. Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at laxare) derives it < Old French de- de- prefix + laier to leave, to let (itself of uncertain and disputed origin: see relay v.¹). Specific forms. The forms in di- , dy- reflect Middle French dilayer , which in turn shows an alteration of the earlier form delaier , delayer after dilatoire dilatory adj.¹ and dilation dilation n.¹

Etymology: Apparently partly (i) an alteration (with prefix substitution: see de- prefix) of both allay v.¹ (compare especially senses 5a, 8, 12b at that entry) and allay v.³, and partly (ii, especially in sense 2) < Middle French delayer, deslayer (French délayer) to soak, steep (something) (13th cent. in Old French as desleier, desloier), further etymology uncertain and disputed (see note).Further etymology of the French verb. The further etymology of Middle French delayer is disputed, with all suggestions posing formal problems. Post-classical Latin disligare to unbind, release (see deligation n.¹), whence Spanish desleír to dissolve (something) in a liquid (15th cent.), cannot be the etymon of the French verb for formal reasons. An alternative suggestion considers Middle French delayer ‘to soak, steep, etc.’ to be etymologically identical with delaier delay v.¹, but this is not widely accepted. Finally, E. Gamillscheg (in Zeitschr. f. roman. Philol. 40 (1920) 524) suggests a derivation < an unattested post-classical Latin form *delicare (in a sense ‘to cause (something) to become liquid’), variant of classical Latin deliquāre deliquate v., with alteration after Old French delaier , delayer delay v.¹ by association with that verb, although he acknowledges that this suggestion poses some formal problems. With this etymology and with sense 2, compare Italian dileguare to soak, steep, dilute (12th cent. as desleguare ; < classical Latin deliquāre ). Specific senses. The sense ’to alleviate, relieve (pain, suffering)’ is apparently unattested for French délayer , and although Anglo-Norman delier to dissipate, relieve (pain) (13th cent.) shows a semantic parallel, it is an etymologically distinct prefixed verb showing as its second element lier to bind (see lié adj.²). Sense 1 is therefore more likely to show an alteration of allay v.¹