Definitions of Idle [ˈaɪd l]

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Definition of 'Idle'

Random House Webster's College Dictionary

1. (adj.) idle
not working or active; unemployed; doing nothing.

2.  idle
not filled with activity:
idle hours.

3.  idle
not in use or operation:
idle machinery.

4.  idle
habitually doing nothing or avoiding work; lazy.

5.  idle
of no real worth, importance, or purpose:
idle talk.

6.  idle
having no basis or reason; baseless; groundless:
idle fears.

7.  idle
frivolous; vain:
idle pleasures.

8.  idle
meaningless; senseless:
idle threats.

9. (v.i.) idle
to pass time doing nothing.

10.  idle
to move or loiter aimlessly.

11.  idle
(of a machine, engine, or mechanism) to operate at a low speed, disengaged from the load.

12. (v.t.) idle
to pass (time) doing nothing (often fol. by away):
to idle away the afternoon.

13.  idle
to cause to be idle:
The strike idled many workers.

14.  idle
to cause (a machine, engine, or mechanism) to idle.

15. (n.) idle
the state or quality of being idle.

16.  idle
the state of a machine, engine, or mechanism that is idling:
an engine at idle.

Etymology: (bef. 900; ME, OE īdel empty, trifling, useless, c. OFris īdel, OS īdal, OHG ītal)

Definition of 'Idle'

Princeton's WordNet

1. (adj) idle
the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling
"the car engine was running at idle"

2. (adj) idle
not in action or at work
"an idle laborer"; "idle drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind"

3. (adj) baseless, groundless, idle, unfounded, unwarranted, wild
without a basis in reason or fact
"baseless gossip"; "the allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy"

4. (adj) idle, unused
not in active use
"the machinery sat idle during the strike"; "idle hands"

5. (adj) idle, light
silly or trivial
"idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light idle chatter"

6. (adj) idle, loose
lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility
"idle talk"; "a loose tongue"

7. (adj) dead, idle
not yielding a return
"dead capital"; "idle funds"

8. (verb) idle, jobless, out of work
not having a job
"idle carpenters"; "jobless transients"; "many people in the area were out of work"

9. (verb) idle, tick over
run disconnected or idle
"the engine is idling"

10. (verb) idle, laze, slug, stagnate
be idle; exist in a changeless situation
"The old man sat and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all morning"

Definition of 'Idle'

Kernerman English Learner’s Dictionary

1. (adjective) idle
not being used
The steam engine lay idle for many years.

2. idle
useless or without purpose
idle chat/gossip

3. idle
lazy
an idle boy

Definition of 'Idle'

Webster Dictionary

1.  Idle
of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren

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

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

4.  Idle
given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow

5.  Idle
light-headed; foolish

6. (verb) Idle
to lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business

7. (verb) Idle
to spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day

Translation of 'Idle'

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary

Sense: not working; not in use ships lying idle in the harbour.
Afrikaans: ongebruik	Arabic: بلا عَمَل، عاطِل	Bulgarian: незает
Brazilian: inativo	Czech: nečinný	German: unnütz
Danish: uvirksom; ude af drift	Greek: αργόσχολος, άπρακτος, αχρ	Spanish: parado, inactivo
Estonian: jõude	Farsi: بلا استفاده	Finnish: toimeton
French: au repos	Hebrew: מוּשְבַּת מִפּעִילוּת	Hindi: बेकार, खाली
Croatian: besposlen	Hungarian: nem működő	Indonesian: menganggur
Icelandic: aðgerðalaus; ekki í notku	Italian: inattivo	Japanese: 使われていない
Korean: 사용하지 않는	Lithuanian: be darbo, nenaudingas	Latvian: dīks; nenodarbināts
Malay: menganggur	Dutch: inactief, ongebruikt	Norwegian: ledig, ubeskjeftiget
Polish: bezczynny	Persian: بلا استفاده	Pashto: نښل، بې كاره، بې فعاليته:
Portuguese: inactivo	Romanian: inactiv; degeaba	Russian: простаивающий
Slovak: nečinný	Slovenian: neizkoriščen	Serbian: nepomičan
Swedish: oanvänd, overksam, ur dri	Thai: ไม่ถูกใช้งาน	Turkish: boş, işlemeyen, kullanılm
Taiwanese: 閒著的，閒置的	Ukrainian: непрацюючий, простоюючий	Urdu: بے کار
Vietnamese: nhàn rỗi	Chinese: 闲着的
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