idle

English Online Dictionary. What means idle‎? What does idle mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: īʹd(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˈaɪd(ə)l/
• (Canada, idle-idol split) IPA^(key): /ˈʌɪdəl/
• Rhymes: -aɪdəl
• Homophones: idol, idyll, idyl (US pronunciation)

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).

Adjective

idle (comparative more idle, superlative most idle)

1. (obsolete) Empty, vacant.

   Synonyms: bare, leer, void

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

   Synonyms: dormant, quiescent, suspended; see also Thesaurus:inactive
3. Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.

   Synonyms: unbusied, workless; see also Thesaurus:obsolete, Thesaurus:unemployed
4. Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.

   Synonyms: indolent, inert; see also Thesaurus:lazy
5. Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.

   Synonyms: petty, pointless; see also Thesaurus:insignificant

6. (obsolete) Light-headed; foolish.

   Synonyms: fatuous, unwise; see also Thesaurus:foolish

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Verb

idle (third-person singular simple present idles, present participle idling, simple past and past participle idled)

1. (transitive) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume.
2. (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
3. (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
4. (transitive) To cause (an engine) to idle(3)

Derived terms

• idler

Related terms

• (sense 3) idling speed

Translations

Etymology 3

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

Noun

idle (plural idles)

1. The state of idling, of being idle.
2. (mechanical engineering) The lowest selectable thrust or power setting of an engine.

   Synonyms: full throttle, wide open

3. (gaming) An idle animation.
4. (gaming) An idle game.

   Synonyms: idle game, incremental game

Hyponyms

• flight idle
• ground idle

References

• idle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “idle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “idle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Diel, Lide, deli, diel, eild, lied

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈidle/ [ˈið̞.le]
• Rhymes: -idle
• Syllabification: id‧le

Verb

idle

1. second-person plural imperative of ir combined with le