text: what is the origin of the english word lollygag?   as you have surmised to "lollygag" is to dawdle, fool around, and just generally do everything except what you should be doing. as a verb, "lollygag" (or "lallygag") dates back to around 1869, and a noun form, meaning "nonsense" or "foolishness," showed up a bit earlier, around 1862.   unfortunately, the origin of "lollygag" is unknown, but there are clues from which we may, perhaps, be able to extrapolate the roots of "lollygag." ("extrapolate" in this context, by the way, is a fancy word for "guess.")   first up in the batting order of possible "lollygag" clues is "loll," which is a very old word originally meaning "to droop or dangle." we use "loll" today to mean to relax or pass time idly, the sort of behavior that vacations are designed to encourage. there seems to be a plausible connection between this "utterly relaxed" meaning of "loll" and the "wasting time" sense of "lollygag."   another bit of evidence might be found in the fact that "to loll" also means to let your tongue hang out, and that "lolly" is an english slang term for tongue (quite possibly the source of the name of our friend the lollipop, by the way). perhaps "lollygagging" arose from the perception that lazy lollygaggers were adept at exercising only one muscle -- their tongues.