idle Hear it!

idle Definition

idle (īd′'l)

adjective i′dler, i′dlest

    1. having no value, use, or significance; worthless; useless idle talk
    2. vain; futile; pointless an idle wish
  2. baseless; unfounded idle rumors
    1. unemployed; not busy
    2. inactive; not in use idle machines
    3. not filled with activity idle hours
  4. not inclined to work; lazy
  5. designating certain parts of a fuel system that set an engine's idling speed

Etymology: ME idel < OE, empty, akin to Ger eitel, vain, empty < ? IE base *ai-dh, to burn, shine: basic sense, either “only apparent, seeming” or “burned out”

intransitive verb i′dled, i′dling

  1. to move slowly or aimlessly; loaf
  2. to spend time unprofitably; be unemployed or inactive
  3. to operate without transmitting power; esp., to operate a motor vehicle's engine while the vehicle is not moving

Etymology: < idlethe : parallel with OE idlian, to come to nothing, be useless

transitive verb

  1. to waste; squander: usually with away to idle away one's youth
  2. to cause (a motor, etc.) to idle
  3. to cause to be inactive or unemployed

noun

the state or act of idling an engine at idle

idle Related Forms
i′dle·ness noun i′dly adverb
idle Synonyms

idle

modif.

  1. Unused or inactive

    unoccupied, unemployed, jobless, workless, laid-off, uncultivated, untilled, fallow, vacant, deserted, not in use, not in operation, waste, barren, void, empty, abandoned, still, quiet, motionless, resting, stagnant, dormant, inert, passive, dead, untouched, rusty, gathering dust, dusty, down, out of action, at loose ends, out of a job, out of harness*, on the bum*; see also unemployed, unused 1.

    Antonyms active*, busy, engaged.

  2. Empty

    pointless, baseless, rambling, vain; see futile 1, shallow 2, trivial.

  3. Lazy

    indolent, shiftless, slothful; see lazy 1. See syn. study at vain.

idle Synonyms

idle

v.

slack, shirk, while away time, loaf; see loaf 1, loiter. See syn. study at loiter.

idle Usage Examples

Object

  • speed: The engine sound will initially decrease to idle speed, but then increase as reverse thrust is applied.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • let: I get a whistling noise when i accelerator and it stops when let the car idle or the revs are low.

Modifies a noun

  • chatter: I don't think it was just idle chatter or lies.
  • curiosity: Why should our family calamity be made the topic of idle curiosity?
  • speculation: Engaging the Real Work of Management The Real Work of Management is not about a concept or idle speculation.
  • chit-chat: They will even make idle chit-chat when things are calmer.
  • timeout: Session and idle timeouts may be applied and the text messages in all the default URLs on the AP can be customized.
  • gossip: The asylum centers are the breeding places of rumors and idle gossip.

Used with adjective complement

  • lie: Capital too lies idle, rotting by the day.
  • sit: Actually the hosts ' CPUs are sitting idle a lot of the time.
  • stand: Going out three hours later he saw some more men standing idle in the market place.
  • remain: Consequently, if a person cannot be happy without remaining idle, idle he should remain.
  • lay: The latter in Smith's eyes are given by the amount of metallic money that would lay idle in merchants balances.
  • leave: The kids are left idle with nothing to do.

Followed by a transitive particle

  • away: That'll teach us to idle away mornings in bed.

Infinitive complement

  • pretend: It would be idle to pretend that these arguments are easy to win.

Modifying Another Word

  • otherwise: SETI@home ) which allowed the use of otherwise idle time on machines used for other purposes.
  • too: The first is the most obvious - I'm too idle to clean ' em up.

Preposition: for

  • while: But more often than not you'll only spot a problem when your trailer or motor caravan has been standing idle for a while.
  • minute: Why does AIM ignore my option setting to dim Buddies in my Buddy List after they've been idle for 5 minutes?
idle Quotes

We would all be idle if we could.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them,Why stand ye here all the day idle?

—Bible (NewTestament)

As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

Be not solitary, be not idle.

—Burton, Robert pseudonym DemocritusJunior

I am happiest when I am idle. I could live for months without performing any kind of labour, and at the expiration of that time I should feel fresh and vigorous enough togo right on inthesame way for numerous more months.

—Ward, Artemus pseudonym of  Charles Farrar Browne

It is, we believe, Idle to hope that the simple stirrup-pump Can extinguish hell.

—Reed, Henry

If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

There's many a one who would be idle if hunger didn't pinch him; but the stomach sets us to work.

—Eliot, George pseudonym of  MaryAnn Evans

Anti-classic art, if it may even be called an art, is merely theart oftheidle.It isthe doctrine ofthosewho desireto produce without working, to know without learning.

—Ingres,Jean Auguste Dominique

To the University of Oxford I acknowledge no obligation; and she will as cheerfully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College: they proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life.

—Gibbon, Edward

Most 'scruciating idle.

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

How these curiosities would be quite forgot, did not such idle fellows as I am put them down.

—Aubrey,John

Browse dictionary entries near idle

  1. ‹ idiotism
  2. ‹ idiotic
  3. ‹ idiot savant
  4. ‹ idiot light
  5. ‹ idiot box
  6. ‹ idiot
  7. ‹ idiosyncratic
  8. ‹ idiosyncrasy
  9. ‹ idioplasm
  10. ‹ idiopathic
  1. idleness ›
  2. idler ›
  3. idlesse ›
  4. idling ›
  5. Ido ›
  6. idocrase ›
  7. idol ›
  8. idolater ›
  9. idolatrize ›
  10. idolatrous ›