also shally-shally, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To trifle; not to know one’s mind; TO STAND SHILLY-SHALLY = to be irresolute (GROSE). Hence SHILLY-SHALLY (or SHILLY-SHALLYING) = indecision [Shall I? Shall I?]; SHILLY-SHALLIER = a trifler.
1630. TAYLOR (‘The Water Poet’), Workes, iii. 3.
| There’s no delay, they ne’re stand SHALL I SHALL I, | |
| Hermogenes with Dallila doth dally. |
1663. SIR R. HOWARD, The Committee, iii. Tell her your Mind, ne’er stand SHALL I, SHALL I.
1699. CONGREVE, The Way of the World, iii. 15. I don’t stand SHILL I, SHALL I, then; if I say’t, I’ll do’t.
1703. STEELE, The Tender Husband, iii. 1. Why should I stand SHALLY-SHALLY like a Country Bumpkin.
1709. KING, The Eagle and the Robin, 92.
| Bob did not SHILL-I-SHALL-I go, | |
| Nor said one word of friend or foe. |
1782. BURNEY, Cecilia, v. 119 [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 188. The SHILL I, SHALL I of Congreve becomes SHILLY SHALLY].
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 27. I never STAND SHILLY-SHALLY: begone, you are free.
1830. BULWER-LYTTON, Paul Clifford (1854), 177. Your friends starve before your eyes, while you are SHILLY-SHALLYING about your mistress.
1834. SOUTHEY, The Doctor, cv. He was no SHILLY SHALLIER.
1849. THACKERAY, Pendennis, xxxvii. I’ll have no more letters nor no more SHILLY-SHALLY.
1883. PAYN, Thicker than Water, xvii. He says he will have no more SHILLY-SHALLYING, but will you take the Lady or will you not?
1884. The Saturday Review, 8 March, 299, 2. He relapses into SHILLY-SHALLY under cover of General Graham’s feat.
