道みち草くさ

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

• 学がっ校こう帰がえりに道みち草くさをして、家いえに着つくのが遅おそくなった。

  I dawdled on the way home from school and got home late.

• 子こどもたちは道みち草くさを食くって、なかなか帰かえってこない。

  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.

• 雨あめ上あがりの道みち草くさに露つゆが残のこっていた。

  Dew remained on the wayside grass after the rain.