Dawdles with key friends (7)
I believe the answer is:
dallies
'dawdles' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with motion as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'with key friends' is the wordplay.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'key' becomes 'd' (musical key).
'friends' becomes 'allies' ('ally' can be a synonym of 'friend').
'd' next to 'allies' is 'DALLIES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for dallies that I've seen is " wastes time".)