IDLER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Idler

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/ˈaɪdələr/ /ˈaɪdlər/ Listen

noun

Idler n.

1.

One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction; a lazy person; a sluggard.

2.

(Naut.) One who has constant day duties on board ship, and keeps no regular watch.

3.

(Mach.) An idle wheel or pulley. See under Idle.

adjective

Idle adj. (compar. idler; superl. idlest)

1.

Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren. "Deserts idle." "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." "Down their idle weapons dropped." "This idle story became important."

2.

Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours. "The idle spear and shield were high uphing."

3.

Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen. "Why stand ye here all the day idle?"

4.

Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.

5.

Light-headed; foolish. (Obs.)

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."

Synonyms: 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.

See images of 'Idler'

Etymology of 'Idler'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Idler" Quotes from Famous Books

... that even the candle-droppings would not be creased and fall away! He was happy, though wretched because he could not see her. It was the life he had longed for. At last (and most pathetic!) he was proving his usefulness in this world. He was no longer the mere idler whom ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... which Leon intended to make for himself, and the hours which, of preference, he would give to study. This excellent little woman would have been ashamed to bear the name of a sloth, and unhappy in passing her days with an idler. She promised Leon in advance, to respect his work as a sacred thing. On her part she thoroughly intended to make her time also of use, and not to live with folded arms. At the start she would take charge of the housekeeping, ...

— The Man With The Broken Ear • Edmond About

... of happiness" is luminous nonsense. Governments are not instituted; they grow. They are evolved out of the necessity of protecting from the handworker the life and property of the brain worker and the idler. The first is the most dangerous because the most numerous and the least content. Take from the science and the art of government, and from its methods, whatever has had its origin in the consciousness of his ill-will and the ...

— The Shadow On The Dial, and Other Essays - 1909 • Ambrose Bierce

... attainment in a certain way and on certain subjects. His favourite authors were Montaigne and Burton, and he knew more perhaps than any other man in his own county and the next to it of the English essayists of the two last centuries. He possessed complete sets of the Idler, the Spectator, the Tatler, the Guardian, and the Rambler, and would discourse by hours together on the superiority of such publications to anything which has since been produced in our Edinburghs and Quarterlies. ...

— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope

... twenty hours after our arrival in the village, we took our departure from it—turning our faces towards the almost limitless wilderness of the west. I had endeavoured to add to our company but without success. The caravan had cleared Van Buren of its unemployed population; and not an idler remained—at least not one who felt inclined to adventure with us. Even the needy "loafer" could not be induced to try the trip—deeming ours too dangerous an expedition. To say the least, it was reckless enough; but impelled by motives far more powerful than the thirst of gold, my comrade ...

— The Wild Huntress - Love in the Wilderness • Mayne Reid

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