English Online Dictionary. What means idle? What does idle mean?
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: īʹd(ə)l, IPA(key): /ˈaɪd(ə)l/
- 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”), 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)
- (obsolete) Empty, vacant.
- Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.
- Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.
- Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.
- Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.
- (obsolete) Light-headed; foolish.
Synonyms
- (of no importance): pointless
- See also Thesaurus:lazy
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)
- (transitive) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume.
- (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
- (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
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)
- The state of idling, of being idle.
- (mechanical engineering) The lowest selectable thrust or power setting of an engine.
- (gaming) An idle animation.
- (gaming) An idle game.
- Synonyms: idle game, incremental game
Hyponyms
- flight idle
- ground idle
References
- idle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “idle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →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
- second-person plural imperative of ir combined with le