dart vs dawdle

dart

noun
  • A sudden or fast movement. 

  • A fish, the dace. 

  • Any of various species of hesperiid butterfly. 

  • A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin. 

  • Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow. 

  • A cigarette. 

  • Anything resembling such a missile; something that pierces or wounds like such a weapon. 

  • A small object with a pointed tip at one end and feathers at the other, which is thrown at a target in the game of darts. 

  • A fold that is stitched on a garment. 

  • A dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters. 

verb
  • To throw with a sudden effort or thrust; to hurl or launch. 

  • To shoot with a dart, especially a tranquilizer dart. 

  • To fly or pass swiftly, like a dart; to move rapidly in one direction; to shoot out quickly. 

  • To send forth suddenly or rapidly; to emit; to shoot. 

  • To start and run with speed; to shoot rapidly along. 

dawdle

noun
  • An act of moving or walking lackadaisically, a dawdling; a leisurely or slow walk or other journey. 

  • An act of spending time idly and unfruitfully; a dawdling. 

  • Synonym of dawdler (“a person who dawdles or idles”) 

verb
  • To spend time idly and unfruitfully; to waste time. 

  • To move or walk lackadaisically. 

  • Chiefly followed by away: to spend (time) without haste or purpose. 

How often have the words dart and dawdle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )