| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| idle |
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| SYLLABICATION: | i·dle |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   d l |
| ADJECTIVE: | Inflected forms: i·dler, i·dlest
1a. Not employed or busy: idle carpenters. See synonyms at inactive. b. Avoiding work or employment; lazy: shiftless, idle youth. See synonyms at lazy. c. Not in use or operation: idle hands. 2. Lacking substance, value, or basis. See synonyms at baseless. , vain. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: i·dled, i·dling, i·dles
| | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To pass time without working or while avoiding work. 2. To move lazily and without purpose. 3. To run at a slow speed or out of gear. Used of a motor vehicle. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To pass (time) without working or while avoiding work; waste: idle the afternoon away. 2. To make or cause to be unemployed or inactive. 3. To cause (a motor, for example) to idle. | | NOUN: | 1. A state of idling. Used of a motor vehicle: an engine running quietly at idle. 2. A mechanism for regulating the speed at which an engine runs at rest: set the idle higher to keep the motor from stalling. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English idel, from Old English del. | | OTHER FORMS: | idle·ness —NOUN
idler (dl r) —NOUN
idly —ADVERB
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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