idle words
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idle — adj 1 *vain, nugatory, otiose, empty, hollow Analogous words: fruitless, bootless, *futile, vain: *ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious: trivial, paltry, *petty, trifling Contrasted words: significant, pregnant, meaningful (see … New Dictionary of Synonyms
Idle — I dle, a. [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Idle pulley — Idle I dle, a. [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Idle wheel — Idle I dle, a. [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
idle — [[t]a͟ɪd(ə)l[/t]] idles, idling, idled 1) ADJ: v link ADJ If people who were working are idle, they have no jobs or work. Employees have been idle almost a month because of shortages. Ant: busy 2) ADJ: v link ADJ If machines or factories are idle … English dictionary
idle — 1 adjective 1 not working or operating productively: Owing to the electricity strike, a lot of factory workers were left idle. | We can t afford to have all this expensive machinery lying idle. | the | idle rich (=rich people who do not work for… … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
idle — [OE] ‘Lazy’ is only a secondary meaning of idle. It originally meant ‘useless, worthless’ (as in ‘idle threats’), and the sense ‘lazy’ did not develop until the 13th century (the Old English words for ‘lazy’ were slow and slack). Idle is shared… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
idle — [OE] ‘Lazy’ is only a secondary meaning of idle. It originally meant ‘useless, worthless’ (as in ‘idle threats’), and the sense ‘lazy’ did not develop until the 13th century (the Old English words for ‘lazy’ were slow and slack). Idle is shared… … Word origins
idle — Synonyms and related words: abortive, absurd, airy, amble, ambling, asinine, asleep, at a standstill, at anchor, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends, available, baseless, be a sideliner, be still, bootless, brogue, bum, bum around, catchpenny,… … Moby Thesaurus
idle rich — Synonyms and related words: beggar, bummer, cadger, coupon clippers, drone, freeloader, leisure class, lounge lizard, lumpen proletariat, mendicant, moocher, nonworker, panhandler, parasite, rentiers, spiv, sponger, the unemployable, the… … Moby Thesaurus
