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If you shilly-shally, you waste time because you cannot make up your mind. You hover: shall I, or shall I not? The word grew out of that little question said over and over. It is usually a verb (Stop shilly-shallying and choose), and it can also describe a manner (shilly-shally behaviour). Informal, a bit old-fashioned, and a bit — the sort of thing a parent, a boss, or a newspaper column might say. Young people more often say hesitate, dither, or just “I can’t decide,” but people still understand shilly-shally. It is about delay from indecision, not about being foolish, even though it sounds close to silly. You can shilly-shally over a menu or over a national plan; the feeling is the same: too long on the edge of a choice.
猶豫不決、拖拖拉拉（拿不定主意）
組成把 shall I?（要不要呢？）玩成疊音。較早的寫法是 Shill-I-shall-I，後來黏成一個詞。
同家族的字
- shall這個詞就是從問句 shall I? 反覆唸出來的
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
shilly-shallyverb/ˈʃɪliˌʃæli/
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informalTo procrastinate.
- "Why, you sees [sic], Captain, your time has come, and you can't shilly-shally any longer. You have had your full swing; your years are up, and you must die like a man!"
- 1866, Charles Reade, Griffith Gaunt, in The Argosy: Volume 2 - Page 16, published by Strahan and Co. "She would have come a few months ago, and gladly: I'll write to her." "Better talk to her, and persuade her." "I'll do that too, but I must write to her first". "So do then; but whatever you do, don't shilly-shally no longer."
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informalTo vacillate.
- The shilly-shallying performance on domestic issues that has marked Bush's first two years in office is not the result of ineptitude.
- Then Germany lost its halo. It shilly-shallied over Ukraine.
shilly-shallyadj/ˈʃɪliˌʃæli/
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informalIndecisive; wavering.
- Irwine would think him a shilly-shally fellow ever after.
shilly-shallynoun/ˈʃɪliˌʃæli/
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informalIndecision; irresolution.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。