Idle
31idle — 1 adjective 1 not working or operating productively: Owing to the electricity strike, a lot of factory workers were left idle. | We can t afford to have all this expensive machinery lying idle. | the | idle rich (=rich people who do not work for… …
32idle — 1. adjective 1) an idle person Syn: lazy, indolent, slothful, work shy, shiftless, inactive, sluggish, lethargic, listless; slack, lax, lackadaisical, good for nothing; rare otiose Ant: ind …
33idle — {{11}}idle (adj.) O.E. idel empty, void; vain; worthless, useless; not employed, common West Germanic (Cf. O.S. idal, O.Fris. idel empty, worthless, O.Du. idil, O.H.G. ital, Ger. eitel vain, useless, mere, pure ), of unknown origin. Idle threats… …
34idle — see an idle brain is the devil’s workshop idle people have the least leisure as good be an addled egg as an idle bird the devil finds work for idle hands to do it is idle to swallow the cow and choke on the tail …
35idle — adj. & v. adj. (idler, idlest) 1 lazy, indolent. 2 not in use; not working; unemployed. 3 (of time etc.) unoccupied. 4 having no special basis or purpose (idle rumour; idle curiosity). 5 useless. 6 (of an action, thought, or word) ineffective,… …
36idle — adj. to stand idle (the machinery stood idle for a month) * * * [aɪdl] to stand idle (the machinery stood idle for a month) …
37idle — adjective 1) an idle fellow Syn: lazy, indolent, slothful, work shy 2) I was bored with being idle Syn: unemployed, jobless, out of work, redundant, unoccupied; Brit.; …
38idle — The engine speed when the vehicle is not moving. The engine s slowest practical speed. Also see fast idle fast idle cam fast idle screw fast idle solenoid tick over …
39Idle — Recorded in several spelling forms including Idel, Idle, Idill, and Idell, this interesting English and Scottish surname has a number of possible origins. The first and most likely is locational, from either the former village of Idle in the West …
40idle — [OE] ‘Lazy’ is only a secondary meaning of idle. It originally meant ‘useless, worthless’ (as in ‘idle threats’), and the sense ‘lazy’ did not develop until the 13th century (the Old English words for ‘lazy’ were slow and slack). Idle is shared… …
