[syn: idle, jobless, out of work]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Idle \I"dle\, a. [Compar. Idler; superl. Idlest.] [OE. idel,
AS. [imac]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [imac]dal, D.
ijdel, OHG. [imac]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.
[1913 Webster]
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment. --Matt.
xii. 36.
[1913 Webster]
Down their idle weapons dropped. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
This idle story became important. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
2. Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate
use; unemployed; as, idle hours.
[1913 Webster]
The idle spear and shield were high uphing.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
3. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing
nothing; as, idle workmen.
[1913 Webster]
Why stand ye here all the day idle? --Matt. xx. 6.
[1913 Webster]
4. Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy;
slothful; as, an idle fellow.
[1913 Webster]
5. Light-headed; foolish. [Obs.] --Ford.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
idle
adj 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, idle, unfounded, unwarranted, wild]
3: not in active use; "the machinery sat idle during the
strike"; "idle hands" [syn: idle, unused]
4: silly or trivial; "idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light
idle chatter" [syn: idle, light]
5: lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk";
"a loose tongue" [syn: idle, loose]
6: not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds" [syn:
dead, idle]
7: not having a job; "idle carpenters"; "jobless transients";
"many people in the area were out of work" [syn: idle,
jobless, out of work]
n 1: the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling;
"the car engine was running at idle"
v 1: run disconnected or idle; "the engine is idling" [syn:
idle, 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: idle, laze, slug, stagnate] [ant: work]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):
IDLE
Integrated DeveLopment Environment (Python)
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):
IDLE
International Date Line, East [+1200] (TZ)