Lingerers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who remain in a place longer than usual or expected ; people who delay departure or continue to stay past a typical time ; those who persist in being present without immediate reason
2. Persons who stay behind after others have left ; individuals who prolong their presence in a location ; entities who delay leaving or moving on from a place
3. Characters who dawdle or delay their exit from a setting ; those who continue to occupy a space beyond the usual period ; agents who resist or postpone departure from a situation

Etymology: "Lingerers" is the plural of "lingerer," a person who lingers, and the plural form of this noun is simply the regular English "-s" added to a word built from "linger" and the agentive suffix "-er." The suffix has a long pedigree: it passed from Latin "-arius," through Old French "-ier," into Middle English as "-er," and it is also the same ending that Old English already used in words such as "bæcere" (baker). The suffix therefore reaches English by two routes, one native and one borrowed, which is why it attaches so readily to English verbs. The base verb "linger" is of Germanic ancestry, and its origin is less settled than the suffix's. Its meaning, to stay on in a place when one ought to leave, has changed little since it was first recorded, so the word has been describing people who overstay their welcome for centuries. The noun "lingerer" is a straightforward formation from the verb and does not appear to have a separate story of its own.

Synonyms: loiterers, stayers, dwellers, stragglers, waiters