To linger means to stay somewhere longer than necessary, often because you don't want to leave or you're enjoying the moment. When you linger at a friend's house after dinner, you're not rushing out the door. You might linger over a good book, reading slowly and savoring each chapter, or linger at the playground after school because you're having too much fun.

The word suggests a gentle reluctance to move on. A pleasant smell might linger in the kitchen after baking cookies. A beautiful sunset might make you linger outside, watching the colors fade. Sometimes teachers have to tell students not to linger in the hallways between classes because they need everyone to get where they're going.

Lingering can be wonderful, like when you linger over a delicious meal, or problematic, like when an illness lingers and won't quite go away. The feeling is always one of something stretching out, lasting longer than expected, whether that's a moment you want to hold onto or something you wish would finally end.