Idle Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary (original) (raw)

Britannica Dictionary definition of IDLE

1

:

not working, active, or being used

• idle workers [=workers who do not have jobs]
• The company's competitors have not been idle [=they have been active/busy] in recent months.
• The factory has been lying/sitting/standing idle [=has not been used] for the past year.
• the idle rich [=rich people who do not have to work]

2

:

not having any real purpose or value

• idle rumors/gossip
• There has been a lot of idle speculation about what might happen, but no one really knows.
• (formal) It is idle [=_useless, pointless_] to want what you cannot have.
• She said she would leave him, but he knew it was an idle threat. [=he knew that she did not mean it]

3

:

not having much activity

• the idle days of summer

4

somewhat old-fashioned

:

trying to avoid work

:

lazy

• a careless and idle worker
• There was a group of idle boys standing on the corner.

— idleness

/ˈaɪdl̟nəs/

noun

[noncount]

Britannica Dictionary definition of IDLE

1

of an engine or vehicle

:

to run without being connected for doing useful work

[no object]

• She left the engine idling for a few seconds before she turned it off.
• The cars idled in traffic.

[+ object]

• idle an engine

2

:

to spend time doing nothing or nothing useful

[no object]

• A group of boys idled in the doorway.

[+ object]

— + away

• We idled away the evening playing cards.

3

[+ object]

US

:

to cause (someone or something) to stop working

:

to make (someone or something) idle

• The factory closed, idling several hundred workers.
• Thousands of workers have been idled by the bad economy.
• The factory has been idled by the strike.