Link Centre Dictionary

linger

lin·ger

UK/ˈlɪŋɡə/ US/ˈlɪŋɡɚ/ uncommon

verb

1.

remain present although waning or gradually dying

  • “Her perfume lingered on”
2.

be about

  • “The high school students like to loiter in the Central Square”
  • “Who is this man that is hanging around the department?”
Synonyms
3.
4.

take one''s time; proceed slowly

Synonyms
Antonyms
5.

move to and fro

  • “The shy student lingered in the corner”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English lengeren, frequentative of lengen (“to stay, dwell, tarry”), from Old English lenġan (“to lengthen, delay, extend”), from Proto-West Germanic *langijan, from Proto-Germanic *langijaną (compare West Frisian lingje (“to linger”), Dutch lengen, German längen, Icelandic lengja (“to lengthen”)), related to the root of English long. Equivalent to linge or long + -er (frequentative verb suffix).

Phrases

  • linger on
  • linger out

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.