hesitate vs linger over

hesitate and linger over both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
hesitate	No	No	Yes	No
linger over	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, linger over is a hyponym of hesitate; that is, linger over is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than hesitate:

Other hyponyms of hesitate include dwell on, boggle, hover, linger, hover, oscillate, vacillate, vibrate, falter, waver.

hesitate (verb)	linger over (verb)
pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness	delay
interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing