"delays" in the noun sense
1. delay, hold, time lag, postponement, wait
time during which some action is awaited
"instant replay caused too long a delay"
"he ordered a hold in the action"
2. delay, holdup
the act of delaying inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time
"delays" in the verb sense
1. delay, detain, hold up
cause to be slowed down or delayed
"Traffic was delayed by the bad weather"
"she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform"
2. delay
act later than planned, scheduled, or required
"Don't delay your application to graduate school or else it won't be considered"
3. stay, detain, delay
stop or halt
"Please stay the bloodshed!"
4. check, retard, delay
slow the growth or development of
"The brain damage will retard the child's language development"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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