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Sloth

//sləʊθ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Laziness; slowness in the mindset; disinclination to action or labour. uncountable

    "Who having ſpilt much blood, and don much waſte / Subduing Nations, and achievd thereby / Fame in the World, high titles, and rich prey, / Shall change thir courſe to pleaſure, eaſe, and ſloth, / Surfet, and luſt, till wantonneſs and pride / Raiſe out of friendſhip hoſtil deeds in Peace."

  2. 2
    apathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins) wordnet
  3. 3
    Any animal in the suborder Folivora.; Any herbivorous, arboreal South American mammal of the families Choloepodidae and Bradypodidae, noted for its slowness and inactivity. countable, especially, uncountable
  4. 4
    any of several slow-moving arboreal mammals of South America and Central America; they hang from branches back downward and feed on leaves and fruits wordnet
  5. 5
    Any animal in the suborder Folivora.; Any of the extinct group of ground sloths. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    a disinclination to work or exert yourself wordnet
  2. 7
    A group of bears. collective, countable, rare
Verb
  1. 1
    To be idle; to idle (away time). intransitive, obsolete, transitive

    "[…] the most of professors are for imbezzeling, mispending and slothing away their time, their talents, their opportunities to do good in […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

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