noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb
loitering on the way; dawdling en route; making unnecessary stops
Used especially for delaying or wandering around on the way to a destination, as in 道草をする and the fixed expression 道草を食う. It often implies that one should have gone straight home or straight to the destination.
See also: 道草を食う
学校帰りに道草をして、家に着くのが遅くなった。
I dawdled on the way home from school and got home late.
The children are loitering on the way and just won't come home.
noun
wayside grass; grass growing by the road
Literal noun for grass by the roadside. This use is much less common in modern everyday Japanese than the figurative 'loitering' sense.
雨上がりの道草に露が残っていた。
Dew remained on the wayside grass after the rain.