Tarry means to delay leaving or to linger somewhere longer than necessary. When your mom calls you for dinner but you tarry in your room finishing one more level of your game, you're delaying on purpose. When a friend tarries after school instead of heading straight home, they're hanging around and taking their time.

The word has an old-fashioned, almost poetic quality. You might read in a classic story that a traveler “dared not tarry” in the forest after dark, meaning they knew they needed to keep moving and not waste time. If you tarry too long at recess, you might be late getting back to class.

Tarry suggests a deliberate slowness rather than getting genuinely stuck or held up. It's the difference between accidentally losing track of time and choosing to linger when you know you should go. When a character in a story tarries, they're often taking a risk by staying too long, whether they're avoiding something unpleasant or simply enjoying where they are too much to leave.