 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Idle \I"dle\, adjective [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf. {Ether}.]
1. Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren. ''Deserts idle.'' --Shak.
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. --Matt. xii. 36.
Down their idle weapons dropped. --Milton.
This idle story became important. --Macaulay.
2. Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.
The idle spear and shield were high uphing. --Milton.
3. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.
Why stand ye here all the day idle? --Matt. xx. 6.
4. Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.
5. Light-headed; foolish. [Obs.] --Ford.
{Idle pulley} (Mach.), a pulley that rests upon a belt to tighten it; a pulley that only guides a belt and is not used to transmit power.
{Idle wheel} (Mach.), a gear wheel placed between two others, to transfer motion from one to the other without changing the direction of revolution.
{In idle}, in vain. [Obs.] ''God saith, thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord God in idle.'' --Chaucer.
Syn: Unoccupied; unemployed; vacant; inactive; indolent; sluggish; slothful; useless; ineffectual; futile; frivolous; vain; trifling; unprofitable; unimportant.
Usage: {Idle}, {Indolent}, {Lazy}. A propensity to inaction is expressed by each of these words; they differ in the cause and degree of this characteristic. Indolent denotes an habitual love to ease, a settled dislike of movement or effort; idle is opposed to {busy}, and denotes a dislike of continuous exertion. Lazy is a stronger and more contemptuous term than indolent.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Idle \I"dle\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Idled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Idling}.] To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Idle \I"dle\, verb (used with an object) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
idle
adjective
1: not in action or at work; "an idle laborer"; "idle drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind" [ant: {busy}]
2: without a basis in reason or fact; "baseless gossip"; "the allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy" [syn: {baseless}, {groundless}, {unfounded}, {unwarranted}]
3: not in active use; "the machinery sat idle during the strike"; "idle hands" [syn: {unused}]
4: silly or trivial; "idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light idle chatter" [syn: {light}]
5: lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk"; "a loose tongue" [syn: {loose}]
6: not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds" [syn: {dead}]
7: not having a job; "idle carpenters"; "jobless transients"; "many people in the area were out of work" [syn: {jobless}, {out of work}]
verb
1: run disconnected or idle; "the engine is idling" [syn: {tick over}] [ant: {run}]
2: be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "The old man sat and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all morning" [syn: {laze}, {slug}, {stagnate}] [ant: {work}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
329 Moby Thesaurus words for "idle": abortive, absurd, airy, amble, ambling, asinine, asleep, at a standstill, at anchor, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends, available, baseless, be a sideliner, be still, bootless, brogue, bum, bum around, catchpenny, cautious, circumspect, claudicant, claudicate, coast, contemplative, coquet, crawl, crawling, creep, creeping, creeping like snail, dabble, dally, dally away, dead-still, delay, deliberate, diddle, diddle away, disengaged, do nothing, do-nothing, dog it, dogtrot, dormant, drag, drag along, drag out, dribble away, drift, drivel away, drone, easy, empty, faineant, fallow, faltering, fatuitous, fatuous, fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, finger with, fixed, flagging, flimsy, flirt, fool, fool around, fool away, fool with, foolish, foot-dragging, free, fribble, fribbling, fritter away, frivol, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, fust, futile, gentle, go dead slow, go slow, goldbrick, goof off, gradual, groundless, halting, hang around, hang fire, hibernate, hobble, hobbled, hobbling, hollow, horse around, idle away, ill-founded, immobile, immotive, inactive, inane, inch, inch along, indolent, inert, insignificant, jerk off, jobless, jog-trot, kid around, kill, kill time, lackadaisical, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, lallygag, languid, languorous, laze, lazy, leisure, leisured, leisurely, lethargic, lie around, lie dormant, light, limp, limping, linger, listless, loaf, loafing, loiter, loiter about, loitering, loll, loll around, lollop around, lollygag, lounge, lounge around, lumbering, lumpen, mark time, meaningless, meditative, mess around, moderate, monkey, monkey around, mooch, mooch around, moon, moon around, mosey, motionless, moveless, muddle away, neuter, neutral, not budge, not stir, nugacious, nugatory, off, off duty, off work, open, otiose, out of commission, out of employ, out of harness, out of work, paralytic, paralyzed, passive, piddle, piss away, play, play around, play with, pointless, poke, poke along, poking, poky, potter, potter away, procrastinating, putter, quiescent, quiet, quietist, quietistic, redundant, relax, relaxed, reluctant, repose, rest, resting, retired, riding at anchor, saunter, sauntering, semiretired, senseless, shallow, shiftless, shuffle along, shuffling, silly, sit around, sit back, sit it out, slack, sleep, sleepy, slender, slight, slothful, slouch, slouch around, slow, slow as death, slow as molasses, slow as slow, slow-crawling, slow-foot, slow-going, slow-legged, slow-moving, slow-paced, slow-poky, slow-running, slow-sailing, slow-stepped, sluggish, slumber, smatter, smolder, snail-paced, snaillike, spare, stagger along, staggering, stagnant, stagnate, stagnating, stand around, standpat, static, stationary, statuelike, still, stock-still, stroll, strolling, superficial, take it easy, tarry, tentative, tinker, toddle, toddle along, toddling, tortoiselike, totter along, tottering, toy, toy with, traipse, trifle, trifle away, trifling, trite, trivial, trudging, turtlelike, twiddle, unavailing, unbased, unemployable, unemployed, unfounded, unfruitful, ungrounded, unhurried, unimportant, unmoved, unmoving, unoccupied, unproductive, unsupportable, unsupported, unsustainable, unsustained, untenable, unused, unwarranted, useless, vacuous, vain, vapid, vegetable, vegetate, vegetative, waddle, waddling, wait and see, walk, waste, watch and wait, while away, windy, without basis, without foundation, workless, worm, worm along, worthless
From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:
IDLE International Date Line, East [+1200] (TZ)
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |