Daliance

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A playful, flirtatious involvement with someone, often romantic in nature ; a lingering delay spent on trifles instead of on serious business
2. Light-hearted romantic toying with another person ; the act of idling away time or lingering over something unimportant
3. Amorous flirting or teasing affection ; an aimless, leisurely wasting of time that postpones what really needs doing

Etymology: "Daliance" is an obsolete spelling of "dalliance," and the form we now use is the one that survived. The root goes back to Middle English "dalien," meaning to exchange pleasantries, to chat, or to flirt, which was borrowed from Old French "dalier" or "dailer." The original sense was lighter and more social than the modern one: a dalliance was simply time spent passing the hours in pleasant talk, and the romantic flirtation came to dominate only later. The noun was built by adding the suffix "-ance" to the verb "dally," which is why the word still carries that sense of idle, playful passing of time. Spelled with an "i" in the middle, as here, the word is a variant that English writers used in earlier centuries before spelling settled on "dalliance."

Synonyms: flirtation, frolic, dabbling, toying, romance

Antonyms: seriousness, commitment