idle

[I·dle]

Something idle is not active. If your car is idling, it's running but not moving. If someone calls you idle, it either means they think you don't have enough to do or that you're just plain lazy.

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Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.

Verb
run disconnected or idle; "the engine is idling"

Verb
be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "The old man sat and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all morning"

Adjective S.
not in active use; "the machinery sat idle during the strike"; "idle hands"

Adjective
not in action or at work; "an idle laborer"; "idle drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind"

Adjective S.
not having a job; "idle carpenters"; "jobless transients"; "many people in the area were out of work"

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Adjective S.
not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds"

Adjective S.
lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk"; "a loose tongue"

Adjective S.
silly or trivial; "idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light idle chatter"

Adjective S.
without a basis in reason or fact; "baseless gossip"; "the allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy"

superl.
Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.

superl.
Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.

superl.
Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.

superl.
Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.

superl.
Light-headed; foolish.

v. i.
To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

v. t.
To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.

Idle

I"dle , a. [Compar. Idler ; superl. Idlest.] [OE. idel, AS. 'c6del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. 'c6dal, D. ijdel, OHG. 'c6tal 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.

Down their idle weapons dropped.

This idle story became important.

2. Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.

The idle spear and shield were high uphing.

3. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.

Why stand ye here all the day idle?

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. -- 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.

Idle

I"dle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Idled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Idling .] To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business. Shak.

Idle

I"dle, v. t. To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.

Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.

To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.

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Usage Examples

If I'm alone too long I think too much, and I'm not interested in doing that. That won't lead anywhere good, I'm sure. If I'm busy I tend to stay out of trouble. An idle mind is the devil's playground.

But there's not enough time in life to go sit at a party, have a drink, and make idle conversation. There's too many important things to do. Just being together with my husband, spending time alone, which I have very little of.

Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.

Love makes a subtle man out of a crude one, it gives eloquence to the mute, it gives courage the cowardly and makes the idle quick and sharp.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

Nobody with an IQ higher than emergency-room temperature could ever believe that 'death panels' would be appointed to nudge the elderly toward euthanasia. Yet for idle entertainment, it's hard to beat Sarah Palin's ignorant nattering on the subject.

Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.

Misspelled Form

idle, uidle, 8idle, 9idle, oidle, jidle, kidle, udle, 8dle, 9dle, odle, jdle, kdle, iudle, i8dle, i9dle, iodle, ijdle, ikdle, isdle, iedle, ifdle, ixdle, icdle, isle, iele, ifle, ixle, icle, idsle, idele, idfle, idxle, idcle, idkle, idole, idple, id:le, idke, idoe, idpe, id:e, idlke, idloe, idlpe, idl:e, idlwe, idl3e, idl4e, idlre, idlse, idlde, idlw, idl3, idl4, idlr, idls, idld, idlew, idle3, idle4, idler, idles, idled.

Other Usage Examples

Idle people are often bored and bored people, unless they sleep a lot, are cruel. It is not accident that boredom and cruelty are great preoccupations in our time.

It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.

It is better to have a fair intellect that is well used than a powerful one that is idle.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation.