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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
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1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
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1828.mshaffer.com › Word [idle]

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idle

I'DLE, a.

1. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing.

Why stand ye here all the day idle? Matt.20.

To be idle, is to be vicious.

2. Slothful; given to rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; as an idle man; an idle fellow.

3. Affording leisure; vacant; not occupied; as idle time; idle hours.

4. Remaining unused; unemployed; applied to things; as, my sword or spear is idle.

5. Useless; vain; ineffectual; as idle rage.

6. Unfruitful; barren; not productive of good.

Of antres vast and idle desarts.

Idle weeds.

7. Trifling; vain; of no importance; as an idle story; an idle reason; idle arguments.

8. Unprofitable; not tending to edification.

Every idle word that men shall speak,they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt.12.

Idle differs from lazy; the latter implying constitutional or habitual aversion or indisposition to labor or action, sluggishness; whereas idle, in its proper sense, denotes merely unemployed. An industrious man may be idle, but he cannot be lazy.

I'DLE, v.i. To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

To idle away, in a transitive sense, to spend in idleness; as, to idle away time.



Evolution (or devolution) of this word [idle]

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

I'DLE, a.

1. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing.

Why stand ye here all the day idle? Matt.20.

To be idle, is to be vicious.

2. Slothful; given to rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; as an idle man; an idle fellow.

3. Affording leisure; vacant; not occupied; as idle time; idle hours.

4. Remaining unused; unemployed; applied to things; as, my sword or spear is idle.

5. Useless; vain; ineffectual; as idle rage.

6. Unfruitful; barren; not productive of good.

Of antres vast and idle desarts.

Idle weeds.

7. Trifling; vain; of no importance; as an idle story; an idle reason; idle arguments.

8. Unprofitable; not tending to edification.

Every idle word that men shall speak,they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt.12.

Idle differs from lazy; the latter implying constitutional or habitual aversion or indisposition to labor or action, sluggishness; whereas idle, in its proper sense, denotes merely unemployed. An industrious man may be idle, but he cannot be lazy.

I'DLE, v.i. To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

To idle away, in a transitive sense, to spend in idleness; as, to idle away time.


I'DLE, a. [Sax. idel, ydel, vain, empty; G. eitel, mere, pure, idle, frivolous; D. ydel, vain, empty, idle; Dan. and Sw. idel, mere, pure, unmixed. See Addle. Class Dl, No. 6, 16, 25, 29.]

  1. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing. Why stand ye here all the day idle? 1 Matt. XX. To be idle, is to be vicious. Rambler.
  2. Slothful; given to rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; as, an idle man; an idle fellow.
  3. Affording leisure; vacant; not occupied; as, idle time; idle hours.
  4. Remaining unused; unemployed; applied to things; as, my sword or spear is idle.
  5. Useless; vain; ineffectual; as, idle rage. Down their idle weapons dropped. Milton.
  6. Unfruitful; barren; not productive of good. Of antres vast and idle desarts. Shak Idle weeds. [Obs.] Shak.
  7. Trifling; vain; of no importance; as, an idle story; an idle reason, idle arguments. Hooker. Dryden. Swift.
  8. Unprofitable; not tending to edification. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Matth. xii. Idle differs from lazy; the latter implying constitutional or habitual aversion or indisposition to labor or action, sluggishness; whereas idle, in its proper sense, denotes merely unemployed. An industrious man may be idle but he can not be lazy.

I'DLE, v.i.

To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business. To idle away, in a transitive sense, to spend in idleness; as, to idle away time.


I"dle
  1. Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.

    "Deserts idle." Shak.

    Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt. xii. 36.

    Down their idle weapons dropped. Milton.

    This idle story became important. Macaulay.

  2. To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

    Shak.
  3. To spend in idleness] to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.
  4. Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.

    The idle spear and shield were high uphing. Milton.

  5. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.

    Why stand ye here all the day idle? Matt. xx. 6.

  6. Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.
  7. Light-headed; foolish.

    [Obs.] Ford.

    Idle pulley (Mach.), a pulley that rests upon a belt to tighten it; a pulley that only guides a belt and is not used to transmit power. -- Idle wheel (Mach.), a gear wheel placed between two others, to transfer motion from one to the other without changing the direction of revolution. -- In idle, in vain. [Obs.] "God saith, thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord God in idle." Chaucer.

    Syn. -- Unoccupied; unemployed; vacant; inactive; indolent; sluggish; slothful; useless; ineffectual; futile; frivolous; vain; trifling; unprofitable; unimportant. -- Idle, Indolent, Lazy. A propensity to inaction is expressed by each of these words; they differ in the cause and degree of this characteristic. Indolent denotes an habitual love to ease, a settled dislike of movement or effort; idle is opposed to busy, and denotes a dislike of continuous exertion. Lazy is a stronger and more contemptuous term than indolent.

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Idle

I'DLE, adjective

1. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing.

Why stand ye here all the day idle? Matthew 20:3.

To be idle is to be vicious.

2. Slothful; given to rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; as an idle man; an idle fellow.

3. Affording leisure; vacant; not occupied; as idle time; idle hours.

4. Remaining unused; unemployed; applied to things; as, my sword or spear is idle

5. Useless; vain; ineffectual; as idle rage.

6. Unfruitful; barren; not productive of good.

Of antres vast and idle desarts.

Idle weeds.

7. Trifling; vain; of no importance; as an idle story; an idle reason; idle arguments.

8. Unprofitable; not tending to edification.

Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36.

Idle differs from lazy; the latter implying constitutional or habitual aversion or indisposition to labor or action, sluggishness; whereas idle in its proper sense, denotes merely unemployed. An industrious man may be idle but he cannot be lazy.

I'DLE, verb intransitive To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

To idle away, in a transitive sense, to spend in idleness; as, to idle away time.

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i am a daily learner of the scripture and needed to get past strongs and other concordances with this important writing

— william joseph (Westchester, IL)

Word of the Day

importance

IMPORT'ANCE, n.

1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.

2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.

Thy own importance know.

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.

He believes himself a man of importance.

4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

Random Word

weighed

WEIGHED, pp.

1. Examined by the scales; having the weight ascertained.

2. Considered.

3. a. Experienced; as a young man not weighed in state affair. [Not in use.]

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