DILATORY. That which is intended for delay. It is a maxim, that delays in law are odious, dilationes in lege sunt odiosae. Plowd. 75.

Source: Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
 

Dilatory \Dil"a*to*ry\, a. [L. dilatorius, fr. dilator a delayer, fr. dilatus, used as p. p. of differe to defer, delay: cf. F. dilatoire. See Dilate, Differ, Defer.]

1. Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at once; given the procrastination; delaying; procrastinating; loitering; as, a dilatory servant. [1913 Webster]

2. Marked by procrastination or delay; tardy; slow; sluggish; -- said of actions or measures. [1913 Webster]

Alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon his adversary. --Motley. [1913 Webster]

Dilatory plea (Law), a plea designed to create delay in the trial of a cause, generally founded upon some matter not connected with the merits of the case.

Syn: Slow; delaying; sluggish; inactive; loitering; behindhand; backward; procrastinating. See Slow. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

65 Moby Thesaurus words for "dilatory": Micawberish, apathetic, backward, balking, balky, bone-lazy, cadging, dallying, dawdling, delaying, deliberate, dillydallying, do-nothing, doless, dragging, dronish, drony, easy, easygoing, ergophobic, faineant, foot-dragging, good-for-nothing, grudging, indifferent, indolent, lackadaisical, laggard, lagging, lax, lazy, leisurely, lingering, loath, loitering, lollygagging, neglectful, negligent, nonaggressive, parasitic, perfunctory, procrastinating, procrastinative, procrastinatory, reluctant, remiss, renitent, restive, scrounging, shiftless, shilly-shallying, shuffling, slack, slothful, slow, slow to, sluggish, sponging, tarrying, unenterprising, unenthusiastic, unhasty, unhurried, unzealous, work-shy

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

dilatory adj
1: inclined to waste time and lag behind [syn: laggard]
2: wasting time [syn: laggard, poky, pokey]
3: using cautious slow strategy to wear down opposition; avoiding direct confrontation; "a fabian policy" [syn: fabian]

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Dilatory \Dil"a*to*ry\, a. [L. dilatorius, fr. dilator a delayer, fr. dilatus, used as p. p. of differe to defer, delay: cf. F. dilatoire. See Dilate, Differ, Defer.]

1. Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at once; given the procrastination; delaying; procrastinating; loitering; as, a dilatory servant.

2. Marked by procrastination or delay; tardy; slow; sluggish; -- said of actions or measures.

Alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon hi? adversary. --Motley.

Dilatory plea (Law), a plea designed to create delay in the trial of a cause, generally founded upon some matter not connected with the merits of the case.

Syn: Slow; delaying; sluggish; inactive; loitering; behindhand; backward; procrastinating. See Slow.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)