Lollygag
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Silliness, nonsense. US, uncountable
"He likes to do his car up with blacked-out windows, and all that lollygag."
- 2 A useless or worthless person or thing. US, countable, dated
"The lallygag strolls down the road that leads to Failureville."
- 1 To dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort. US
"Stop lollygagging! […] He ate ALL the ship's food! 'Zat your friend? Show him outta here!"
- 2 be about a place without any apparent purpose wordnet
- 3 To fool around, especially sexually. US, dated
"Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden. […] The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES, corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline. […]"
- 4 To effusively (often excessively) display affection. US, dated
"At the fair the other day George and Sue were lollygagging around like two sick kittens."
Example
More examples"Stop lollygagging! […] He ate ALL the ship's food! 'Zat your friend? Show him outta here!"
Etymology
By surface analysis, lolly (“fool, tongue”) + gag (“fool around”). Compare lollypoop. Cited in American dialects from 1871 and attested since at least 1859.
Related phrases
More for "lollygag"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.