delay-n; 4 Senses

Sense Number 1: amount of time that something is postponed

Commentary: DELAY[+quantity][+time][+postponement]
NOTE: refers to an amount of unexpected, unintended time

Examples:
Bad weather in Dallas was causing 2-hour delays at the airport.
Sally experienced a long delay in getting her renewed passport.
Huge traffic delays at the bridge are now common during rush hour.

Mappings:
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 1

Sense Number 2: the act of postponing an event

Commentary: DELAY[+action][+postponement][+of_event]
NOTE: X's delay of Y -> X caused Y to be delayed, a nominalization

Examples:
Congress's delay of bringing this bill to the floor has angered voters.
The extremely cold spring resulted in the delay of buds opening this year.
I managed to get out the door without further delay.

Mappings:
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 2

Sense Number 3: the lag of an electronic signal

Commentary: DELAY[+quantity][+time][+lag][+signal][+electronic]
NOTE: narrow somewhat technical usage

Examples:
Electronic delay has been a critical problem in active noise control systems.
There was .5 second delay in the signal transmission.

Mappings:
WordNet 0.0 Sense Numbers: 1b

Sense Number 4: an electronic device that creates a signal lag

Commentary: DELAY[+entity][+artifact][+device][+electronic][+lag_generator]

Examples:
With this kit you can build your own electronic delays.

Mappings:
WordNet 0.0 Sense Numbers: 1c