tardy

From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑːdi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɹdi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)di

tardy (comparative tardier, superlative tardiest)

1. Late; overdue or delayed.

   He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     When everything is ended, then you come. / These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life, / One time or other break some gallows’ back.

   • 1795, Isaac D’Israeli, chapter 9, in An Essay on the Manners and Genius of the Literary Character‎^[1], London: T. Cadell Jr. and W. Davies, page 122:

     Men of genius anticipate their contemporaries, and know they are such, long before the tardy consent of the public.

   • 1914, Saki, “The Stake”, in Beasts and Super-Beasts‎^[2], London: John Lane, pages 202–203:

     As a matter of fact, the luncheon fare, when it made its tardy appearance, was distinctly unworthy of the reputation which the justly-treasured cook had built up for herself.

   • 1963, James Baldwin, “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind”, in The Fire Next Time‎^[3], New York: Dial, page 87:

     And the Black Muslims, along with many people who are not Muslims, no longer wish for a recognition so grudging and (should it ever be achieved) so tardy.

2. Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     […] fashions in proud Italy, / Whose manners still our tardy apish nation / Limps after in base imitation.

   • 1638, George Sandys, “(please specify the part or chapter)”, in A Paraphrase upon the Divine Poems, London: […] Iohn Legatt, →OCLC:

     Nor should their Age by Yeares be told: / Whose Souls, more swift then Motion, clime; / And check the tardy Flight of Time.

   • 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Carmen Seculare, For the Year 1700. To the King”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 151:

     In various Views she tries her constant Theme; / Finds him, in Councils, and in Arms, the same: / When certain to o’ercome, inclin’d to save; / Tardy to Vengeance; and with Mercy brave.

   • 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Chronicles the further Proceedings of the Nickleby Family, and the Sequel of the Adventure of the Gentleman in the Small-clothes”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:

     […] a disease which medicine never cured, wealth never warded off, or poverty could boast exemption from; which sometimes moves in giant strides, and sometimes at a tardy sluggish pace, but, slow or quick, is ever sure and certain.

   • 1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 19, in Lud-in-the-Mist, Millennium, published 2000:

     These berries […] are a deadly and insidious poison, though very tardy in their action, often lying dormant in the blood for many days.

   • 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:

     And the youngest of the family
     Is moving with authority
     Building castles by the sea
     He dares the tardy tide
     To wash them all aside.

3. Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.

   His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.

4. (obsolete) Unwary; unready (especially in the phrase take (someone) tardy).
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay.

   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto III.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 104:

     Yield, Scoundrel base (quoth she) or die; / Thy life is mine, and liberty. / But if thou think’st I took thee tardy, / And dar’st presume to be so hardy, / To try thy fortune o’re afresh, / I’le wave my title to thy flesh,

5. (obsolete) Criminal; guilty.
   • 1697, Jeremy Collier, Essays upon Several Moral Subjects:

     And the Franks served the Men much the same ſauce when they found them tardy, and made them run their Heats through the Streets

• The term suggests habitual lateness.
• Somewhat dated in the United Kingdom.

• (late; overdue; not on time): belated, delayed

• tardily
• tardiness

tardy (plural tardies)

1. (US) A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.

   The teacher gave her a tardy because she did not come into the classroom until after the bell.

2. (US) An instance of a student's being marked as tardy by a teacher on the teacher's attendance sheet.

• tardy slip

tardy (third-person singular simple present tardies, present participle tardying, simple past and past participle tardied)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make tardy.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     the good mind of Camillo tardied
     My swift command

• Darty