linger

Related to linger: liger

linger around

To wait or loaf idly or expectantly (in some place or location). We all lingered around to hear the test results after class. I lingered around New York for a few weeks after I finished college hoping to find a job, but I knew deep down I would eventually move back to Michigan. I want you to get a job—I don't want you lingering around the house for the whole summer.
See also: around, linger

linger on

1. To remain persistently or for a longer time than anticipated. I just wanted to go home after the seminar finished, but a number of attendees were still lingering on in the lobby. Despite her assurances, I still had a few concerns lingering on.
2. To remain focused on or preoccupied by something for longer than is necessary or advantageous. Time will be extremely tight in this exam, so don't linger on any questions to which you don't know the answer right away. I don't want to linger on this topic any longer than we have already, so I'll keep my response brief.
3. To remain alive after someone else passes away. After my father died, my mother lingered on for a couple of months before passing away as well. I just don't think she could bear being without him. My great-uncle Charlie lived for nearly 20 years after his brothers and sisters died, lingering on to the ripe-old age of 107.
See also: linger, on

linger on after (someone)

To remain alive after someone else passes away. After my father died, my mother lingered on after him for a couple of months before passing away as well. I just don't think she could bear being without him. My great-uncle Charlie lingered on after his brothers and sisters for nearly 20 years, dying at the ripe-old age of 107.
See also: after, linger, on

linger over (something)

1. To delay in doing or accomplishing something. Time will be extremely tight in this exam, so don't linger over any questions you can't figure out. Don't linger over your decision too long, or they might withdraw their generous offer.
2. To spend a lavish or excessive amount of time doing or enjoying something. I love watching her linger over each cigarette as if it were the last one she'll ever have. With how frantic life is these days, I think it's important to linger over things we enjoy, such as good food or drinks.
See also: linger, over
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

linger around

to wait around; to be idle some place. Don't linger around. Get going! All the students were lingering around, waiting until the last minute to go into the building.
See also: around, linger

linger on

to remain for a long time; to exist longer than would have been thought. This cold of mine just keeps lingering on. Some of the guests lingered on for a long time after the party was over.
See also: linger, on

linger on (after someone or something)

 and stay on (after someone or something)
to outlast someone or something; to live longer than someone else or long after an event. Aunt Sarah lingered on only a few months after Uncle Herman died. She lingered on and was depressed for a while.
See also: linger, on

linger on something

to delay moving on to the next thing; to remain at something and not move on. Don't linger on that one problem so long. I don't want to waste a lot of time lingering on this question.
See also: linger, on

linger over something

 
1. to take too much time or idle over something, such as a meal, a cup of coffee, etc. I could linger over coffee all morning, given the chance. Don't linger over your soup. It will get cold.
2. to dawdle over the doing of something. You shouldn't linger over eating your dinner. It would he best not to linger over making up your mind.
See also: linger, over
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • gaze around
  • get (someone) around the table
  • get around the table
  • find way around
  • around (one's) ears
  • bomb around
  • go around and around
  • gaze around at (someone or something)
  • feel around
  • feel around (for someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
On the final day of that seven-day marathon, Linger returned to Ballybrit and, ridden, by Donnacha O'Brien, again came from off the pace to land a flat handicap (off 65) by no less than six and a half lengths from Eight And Bob.
TIME TO LINGER; Hurdle romp, flat stroll.. now O'Brien star eyes chase success for hat trick; SUNDAY PREVIEW
Even in living, we are constantly reminded of the way in which a memento mori might nudge us, through the image of a still life, perhaps with a "pear with worm in it," or "a man with a pansy and a skull." Beyond this, though, Linger, Still finds its true beauty in the "O, heart--" poems.
LINGER, STILL
No more the magic music With her friends, The Beatles, wrote - Though lingers faintly in our thoughts The echo of each note.
Your Poem
Anthropologist Daniel Touro Linger begins his book with the observation that anthropology's current focus on cultural analysis is relegating experienced lives to the margins of scrutiny.
Anthropology Through a Double Lens. Public and Personal Worlds In Human Theory
Henry Goldfarb, vice chairman, and Stanley Lindenfeld, senior managing director, of Grubb & Ellis's New York office represented both tenant, Linger Cafe, and landlord, 525-541 Atlantic Avenue LLC, in the transaction.
Cafe is a perfect fit for Atlantic Gardens
STEVE WEST, who runs underwear wholesalers, Linger Lingerie in Park Street, Foleshill, Coventry, said boy shorts were definitely overtaking thongs as the most popular underwear style.
Latest lingerie fashion is not short on style
British Airways said it had been forced to cancel 160 of its 400 short-haul flights to and from London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday due to heavy fog that was expected to linger for another two days.
Company Watch - British Airways
The series should not be overlooked for bedtime reading also, as the wonders described are sure to linger in inquisitive young minds.
Smithsonian
Ninety percent of the casualties of modern warfare are civilians, and the effects of war linger for generations.
The walking wounder: far from being redemptive, violence--whether in crimes or in war--comes back to haunt us all, including the perpetrators
In her poetry as showcased in Keeping Still, Lois Beebe Hayna uses words the way a classical composer uses the notes of the scale in order to create multilayered imageries that linger in the mind with the impact of a highly evocative linguistic art.
Keeping Still
Monitoring systems enable 'companies to verify their actions, meet their objectives or provide an opportunity to take corrective action before problems linger for extensive periods.
Be prepared: insurers need ways to monitor their operations and results so they don't fall apart amid the clamor for lower prices and better terms that comes with a soft market
As the government pours hundreds of billions into war, it has no money to take care of the Vietnam veterans who are homeless, who linger in VA hospitals, who suffer from mental disorders, and who commit suicide in shocking numbers.
The ultimate betrayal
All of their records have been surpassed, but the memories linger on.
"America's best girl" ..