delay
n. C / Un. a period of time when you have to wait because something is late. It can also mean the time between an action and its result, like a sound repeating after you speak.
n. a period of time by which an event or action is postponed or slowed. In technical contexts, it refers to the latency between an input and its corresponding output or signal.
There is a long delay at the airport today.
The heavy snowfall caused a significant delay in the morning train schedule, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.
The guitarist used a digital delay pedal to create a rhythmic echo effect that filled the empty spaces between the notes of the melody.
From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dally. Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.
From Middle English delaien, from Old French delaiier, a variant of delaissier.
Countable when referring to a specific instance of lateness; uncountable when referring to the general concept of being late.
The train had a delay of ten minutes late.The train had a delay of ten minutes.The noun 'delay' already implies lateness; adding 'late' at the end of the phrase is redundant.