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Webster 1913 Edition

Idle

I′dle

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Idler
;
sup
erl.
Idlest
.]
[OE.
idel
, AS.
īdel
vain, empty, useless; akin to OS.
īdal
, D.
ijdel
, OHG.
ītal
vain, empty, mere, G.
eitel
, Dan. & Sw.
idel
mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. [GREEK] clear, pure, [GREEK] 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.
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.

I′dle

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

I′dle

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

Webster 1828 Edition

Idle

I'DLE

, a.
1.
Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing.
Why stand ye here all the day idle? Matt.20.
To be idle, is to be vicious.
2.
Slothful; given to rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; as an idle man; an idle fellow.
3.
Affording leisure; vacant; not occupied; as idle time; idle hours.
4.
Remaining unused; unemployed; applied to things; as, my sword or spear is idle.
5.
Useless; vain; ineffectual; as idle rage.
6.
Unfruitful; barren; not productive of good.
Of antres vast and idle desarts.
Idle weeds.
7.
Trifling; vain; of no importance; as an idle story; an idle reason; idle arguments.
8.
Unprofitable; not tending to edification.
Every idle word that men shall speak,they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt.12.
Idle differs from lazy; the latter implying constitutional or habitual aversion or indisposition to labor or action, sluggishness; whereas idle, in its proper sense, denotes merely unemployed. An industrious man may be idle, but he cannot be lazy.

I'DLE

,
Verb.
I.
To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.
To idle away, in a transitive sense, to spend in idleness; as, to idle away time.

Definition 2024

Idle

Idle

See also: idle

English

Proper noun

Idle ‎(plural Idles)

  1. A surname​.

idle

idle

See also: Idle

English

Adjective

idle ‎(comparative more idle, superlative most idle)

  1. (obsolete) Empty, vacant.
  2. Not turned to appropriate use; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.
    idle hours‎
    idle time‎ (compare: downtime)
    My computer hibernates after it has been idle for 30 minutes.‎
  3. Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing.
    idle workmen‎
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
      Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
  4. Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.
    an idle fellow‎
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VI”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, […]!”
  5. Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.
    an idle story;  idle talk;  idle rumor‎
  6. (obsolete) Light-headed; foolish.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ford to this entry?)

Derived terms

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:lazy

Translations

Verb

idle ‎(third-person singular simple present idles, present participle idling, simple past and past participle idled)

  1. (transitive) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume.
  2. (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
    to idle in an IRC channel
    • 1939, Joan Evans, Chateaubriand (page 32)
      He had already heard of the young man's projected journey — evidently the Comte de Combourg had written many letters while his son idled at St. Malo […]
  3. (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.

Translations

Related terms

References

  • idle in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • idle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

Etymology

Old English īdel, from West Germanic *īdla-, from Proto-Germanic *īdalaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel ‎(“vain”), German eitel ‎(“vain, conceited”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: īʹd(ə)l, IPA(key): /ˈaɪd(ə)l/
  • Rhymes: -aɪdəl
  • Homophones: idol, idyll, idyl (US pronunciation)

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