DELAY1 to make someone or something arrive late2 to make something happen later or take longer than it should3 to deliberately delay someone or something4 a situation in which someone or something is delayedRELATED WORDSarrange to do something later than planned 做某事比原计划的要迟LATERsee alsoLATELATERCANCEL1 to make someone or something arrive late 使某人或某物迟到be delayed /biː dɪˈleɪd/ [verb phrase]to make someone or something late - use this especially about a problem or something unexpected 耽搁，使延迟〔尤指一个难题或意料之外的事物〕 Mr Evans has been delayed but will be joining us shortly. 埃文斯先生有事耽搁了，不过很快就会到我们这里来的。 Our plane was delayed by fog. 我们的飞机因雾推迟了。 I mustn't delay you any longer. 我不能再耽搁你的时间了。get delayed There was an accident on the freeway and we got delayed. 高速公路上出了事故，我们被耽搁了。make somebody late /ˌmeɪk somebody ˈleɪt/ [verb phrase not in passive]to delay someone or something so that they arrive somewhere late 使某人迟到make sb late for The accident made us late for work. 这场事故使我们上班迟到了。 I'll let you go - I don't want to make you late for your appointment. 我会让你去的—我可不想让你约会迟到。make somebody late doing something Catching a later train made Frank late getting to the office. 弗兰克乘了较晚的一班列车，所以到办公室时迟了。hold up /ˌhəʊld ˈʌp/ [transitive phrasal verb]to make someone or something stop or go more slowly when they are going somewhere 延迟，耽搁hold somebody up I won't hold you up - I can see you're in a hurry. 我不会耽搁你的，看得出你很急。hold up somebody/something Get a move on, you two! You're holding up the whole queue! 往前挪挪，你们两个！你们把所有排队的人都挡住了！be/get held up We got held up in traffic and missed the show. 我们被交通堵塞耽误了时间，错过了那场演出。keep /kiːp/ [transitive verb not in passive]informalto delay someone when they are trying to go somewhere 【非正式】耽误，拖延〔正要去某处的人〕 He should be here by now. What's keeping him? 他这会儿应该来了。是什么事拖住他了？detain /dɪˈteɪn/ [transitive verb]formalto delay someone, especially by keeping them talking or working 【正式】耽误，耽搁〔尤指使他们继续说话或干活〕 I won't detain you for much longer, Miss Reid. There are just a few more questions that I need to ask you. 我不会耽误你多久的，里德小姐。我只需要再问你几个问题。be unavoidably detainedby something that you cannot prevent 被不可避免地耽误 Mr Jones should be here, but I'm afraid he's been unavoidably detained. 琼斯先生应该在这儿了；但恐怕他是被什么推不开的事耽搁了。2 to make something happen later or take longer than it should 使某事延期或延误delay /dɪˈleɪ/ [transitive verb usually in passive]to make something happen later than it should, or take longer than it should 使延期，延误 The President's visit had to be delayed because of security problems. 因安全问题，总统的访问只得延期了。 This latest terrorist attack is bound to delay the peace talks even further. 最近的恐怖袭击必然会使和谈进一步延期。delay by The plane's departure was delayed by mechanical problems. 这架飞机因机械故障而推迟了起飞时间。be delayed for 5 hours/2 months etc The opening of the new bridge may be delayed for several months. 新桥可能要推迟几个月才启用。hold up /ˌhəʊld ˈʌp/ [transitive phrasal verb]to make something happen late, or make it happen more slowly than it should 耽搁，延误hold up something Protesters held up work on the new road. 抗议者阻延了新路的工程。be held up by something The peace talks are being held up by continued fighting on the border. 和谈被边境上持续不断的战斗所耽搁。hold somebody/something up They should have finished that job on Friday - what's holding them up? 他们应在周五完成那项工作的。什么原因使他们延误了 Her stubbornness on this one issue is holding the whole deal up. 她在这一问题上的固执使整个交易被拖延了。set backalsoput backBritish /ˌset ˈbæk, ˌpʊt ˈbæk/ [transitive phrasal verb]to delay the progress or development of something by a number of weeks, months etc 使延期，使推迟set somebody/something etc back Your mistake has set us back several weeks. 你的错误使我们迟了几个星期。 The Transportation Department first announced that the expressway would be completed by 2002, but it has since set the timetable back. 最初交通部宣布说这条高速公路将于2002年完工，但后来又把日期推迟了。set back somebody/something The start date kept being put back, for a variety of reasons. 由于种种原因，出发日期被一再推迟。get bogged down /get ˌbɒgd ˈdaʊnǁ-ˌbɑːgd-/ [verb phrase]informalif a person or planned piece of workgets bogged down, they are delayed and prevented from continuing because of complicated or difficult problems 【非正式】〔人或已计划的工作因复杂或艰难的问题而〕受到阻碍，停滞不前get bogged down in The project got bogged down in a series of legal disputes. 该工程因遇到一连串法律上的争端而停滞不前。get bogged down by Keep the document simple and avoid getting bogged down by complicated formatting. 保持这份文件简洁，防止被复杂的形式所妨碍。3 to deliberately delay someone or something 故意耽误某人或某事stall /stɔːl/ [intransitive/transitive verb]to deliberately delay doing something, or to deliberately stop someone else from doing something until a later time, either because you are not ready or to give yourself an advantage 〔故意〕拖延，推迟〔因未准备好做某事或使自己有利等〕 Quit stalling and tell me where she is. 别拖延时间了，告诉我她在哪儿。 I'm not ready to talk to him yet - go out there and see if you can stall him. 我还没准备好和他谈话，出去看看你能否拖延住他。 City officials have slowed the development by stalling building permits for the area. 市政府官员拖着不签发在该地区的建筑许可证，这就减慢了发展势头。play for time /ˌpleɪ fəʳ ˈtaɪm/ [verb phrase]to deliberately try to delay doing something or making a decision, because you are not ready or want more time to think about it 〔故意〕拖延时间 Stop playing for time and give us an answer. 别拖时间了，给我们一个答复吧。 The rebel's current ceasefire doesn't amount to much more than playing for time. 叛乱分子当前的停火只是在拖延时间而已。delaying tactics /dɪˈleɪ-ɪŋ ˌtæktɪks/ [plural noun]methods used, especially by politicians, in order to delay a plan or decision so that something can be done during the delay 拖延战术〔策略〕〔尤为政治家采用〕 Some politicians are prepared to use delaying tactics to block the bill. 有些政治家打算采用拖延战术来阻挠这一提案。 The peace negotiations were being held up by the delaying tactics of France and Great Britain. 和平谈判正受到法英两国拖延战术的阻碍。procrastinate /prəˈkræstɪneɪt, prəˈkræstəneɪt/ [intransitive verb]to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it - used especially to show disapproval 〔尤因不想做而〕拖延，耽搁〔尤用于表示不赞成〕 He hesitated and procrastinated for weeks before he finally told her he wanted their relationship to end. 他犹豫着拖延了好几个星期，才终于向她开口说想要结束他俩的关系。procrastinate about/over Certain players are procrastinating over their contracts in order to see how much money they can squeeze out of their clubs. 有些球员拖着不签合同以试探到底能从俱乐部挤出多少钱来。procrastination /prəˌkræstɪˈneɪʃən/ [uncountable noun] She finally agreed to take the job after months of procrastination. 拖延了几个月后，她终于同意接受这份工作。4 a situation in which someone or something is delayed 某人或某事被耽搁的情况delay /dɪˈleɪ/ [countable/uncountable noun]when someone or something is delayed 延迟，耽误 Any delay in the production process is costly to a company. 生产过程中任何耽误对公司来说都要付出很大的代价。long delay The strike is causing long delays at the airport 罢工使机场的航班延误了很长时间。three months’/several weeks’ etc delay After three months’ delay, work finally began on the new building. 经过三个月的延误，新建筑终于开始动工了。delay in doing something There have been a lot of complaints about delays in issuing passports. 大家对延迟签发护照怨声鼎沸。hold-up/holdup /ˈhəʊld ʌp/ [countable noun]a delay, especially one caused by an unexpected problem, that interrupts a journey or a piece of work 〔旅行或工作上的〕耽搁，延迟〔尤因未预料到的问题引起〕 An accident on the London-Brighton road has caused a major hold-up. 在伦敦至布赖顿公路上的一次交通事故引起了严重的堵塞。 There's been a hold-up with the builders, so the new office won't be ready for several months. 建筑工人有些耽搁，因此新办事处要过几个月才能完工。bottleneck /ˈbɒtlnekǁˈbɑː-/ [countable noun]a delay in one stage of a process that stops making progress and makes the whole process take longer 〔整个进度的〕阻碍，瓶颈 There's always going to be a bottleneck because only two people review all the applications. 只有两个人审阅所有的申请，所以总是难免发生阻滞。 If we don't hire more people in production we're going to have a huge bottleneck in a few months. 如果我们不雇用更多的生产人员，几个月之后就会出现严重瓶颈。