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Idle

//ˈaɪd(ə)l// adj, name, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Empty, vacant. obsolete
  2. 2
    Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.

    "idle hours"

  3. 3
    Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.

    "idle workmen"

  4. 4
    Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.

    "an idle fellow"

  5. 5
    Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.

    "an idle story;  idle talk;  idle rumor"

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  1. 6
    Light-headed; foolish. obsolete

    "The youth is idle"

Adjective
  1. 1
    not in active use wordnet
  2. 2
    not in action or at work wordnet
  3. 3
    not having a job wordnet
  4. 4
    not yielding a return wordnet
  5. 5
    lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility wordnet
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  1. 6
    silly or trivial wordnet
  2. 7
    without a basis in reason or fact wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    Initialism of Integrated DeveLopment Environment. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  3. 3
    A suburb in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE1737). countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    Initialism of Integrated Development and Learning Environment. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  5. 5
    A river, the River Idle in Nottinghamshire, England, which flows into the River Trent. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    Acronym of indolent lesion of epithelial origin. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
Noun
  1. 1
    The state of idling, of being idle.
  2. 2
    the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling wordnet
  3. 3
    The lowest selectable thrust or power setting of an engine.

    "a lumpy idle"

  4. 4
    An idle animation.
  5. 5
    An idle game.
Verb
  1. 1
    To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume. transitive
  2. 2
    run disconnected or idle wordnet
  3. 3
    To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business. intransitive

    "to idle in an IRC channel"

  4. 4
    be idle; exist in a changeless situation wordnet
  5. 5
    Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over. intransitive

    "High levels of all pollutants were found during time idling in stations."

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  1. 6
    To cause (an engine) to idle(3) transitive

    "The driver idled his engine until the car finally stalled."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel, from Proto-West Germanic *īdal, from Proto-Germanic *īdalaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel (“vain, meaningless”), ijl (“rareified, skinny”), iel (“thin, slender”); German Low German iedel (“vain, idle”); German eitel (“vain, conceited”); and possibly Old Norse illr ("bad"; > English ill).

Etymology 2

From Middle English idelen, from Old English īdlian, from Proto-West Germanic *īdalēn. Cognate with German eiteln (“to make empty, free up”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel (“idleness”), from the adjective (see above).

See also for "idle"

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