[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

idle \i"dle\, a. compar. idler; superl. idlest. oe. idel,
   as. imacdel vain, empty, useless; akin to os. imacdal, d.
   ijdel, ohg. imactal vain, empty, mere, g. eitel, dan.  sw.
   idel mere, pure, and prob. to gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn.
   cf. ether.
   1. of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable;
      thoughtless; silly; barren. "deserts idle." --shak.
      1913 webster

            every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
            give account thereof in the day of judgment. --matt.
                                                  xii. 36.
      1913 webster

            down their idle weapons dropped.      --milton.
      1913 webster

            this idle story became important.     --macaulay.
      1913 webster

   2. not called into active service; not turned to appropriate
      use; unemployed; as, idle hours.
      1913 webster

            the idle spear and shield were high uphing.
                                                  --milton.
      1913 webster

   3. not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing
      nothing; as, idle workmen.
      1913 webster

            why stand ye here all the day idle?   --matt. xx. 6.
      1913 webster

   4. given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy;
      slothful; as, an idle fellow.
      1913 webster

   5. light-headed; foolish. obs. --ford.
      1913 webster

   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.

   usage: 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.
          1913 webster
see also:
idler idlest ether idle pulley idle wheel in idle 
idle indolent lazy busy 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

idle \i"dle\, v. i. imp.  p. p. idled; p. pr.  vb. n.
   idling.
   to lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed
   in business. --shak.
   1913 webster
see also:
idled idling 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

idle \i"dle\, v. t.
   to spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed
   by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.
   1913 webster

[4] : WordNet (r) 2.0

idle
     adj 1: not in action or at work; "an idle laborer"; "idle
            drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind" ant: busy
     2: without a basis in reason or fact; "baseless gossip"; "the
        allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded
        suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy" syn: baseless, groundless,
         unfounded, unwarranted
     3: not in active use; "the machinery sat idle during the
        strike"; "idle hands" syn: unused
     4: silly or trivial; "idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light
        idle chatter" syn: light
     5: lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk";
        "a loose tongue" syn: loose
     6: not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds" syn: dead
     7: not having a job; "idle carpenters"; "jobless transients";
        "many people in the area were out of work" syn: jobless,
         out of work
     v 1: run disconnected or idle; "the engine is idling" syn: tick
          over ant: run
     2: be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "the old man sat
        and stagnated on his porch"; "he slugged in bed all
        morning" syn: laze, slug, stagnate ant: work
see also:
busy baseless groundless unfounded unwarranted unused 
light loose dead jobless out of work 
tick over run laze slug stagnate 
work 

[5] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

329 moby thesaurus words for "idle":
   abortive, absurd, airy, amble, ambling, asinine, asleep,
   at a standstill, at anchor, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends,
   available, baseless, be a sideliner, be still, bootless, brogue,
   bum, bum around, catchpenny, cautious, circumspect, claudicant,
   claudicate, coast, contemplative, coquet, crawl, crawling, creep,
   creeping, creeping like snail, dabble, dally, dally away,
   dead-still, delay, deliberate, diddle, diddle away, disengaged,
   do nothing, do-nothing, dog it, dogtrot, dormant, drag, drag along,
   drag out, dribble away, drift, drivel away, drone, easy, empty,
   faineant, fallow, faltering, fatuitous, fatuous, fiddle,
   fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, finger with, fixed,
   flagging, flimsy, flirt, fool, fool around, fool away, fool with,
   foolish, foot-dragging, free, fribble, fribbling, fritter away,
   frivol, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, fust, futile, gentle,
   go dead slow, go slow, goldbrick, goof off, gradual, groundless,
   halting, hang around, hang fire, hibernate, hobble, hobbled,
   hobbling, hollow, horse around, idle away, ill-founded, immobile,
   immotive, inactive, inane, inch, inch along, indolent, inert,
   insignificant, jerk off, jobless, jog-trot, kid around, kill,
   kill time, lackadaisical, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, lallygag,
   languid, languorous, laze, lazy, leisure, leisured, leisurely,
   lethargic, lie around, lie dormant, light, limp, limping, linger,
   listless, loaf, loafing, loiter, loiter about, loitering, loll,
   loll around, lollop around, lollygag, lounge, lounge around,
   lumbering, lumpen, mark time, meaningless, meditative, mess around,
   moderate, monkey, monkey around, mooch, mooch around, moon,
   moon around, mosey, motionless, moveless, muddle away, neuter,
   neutral, not budge, not stir, nugacious, nugatory, off, off duty,
   off work, open, otiose, out of commission, out of employ,
   out of harness, out of work, paralytic, paralyzed, passive, piddle,
   piss away, play, play around, play with, pointless, poke,
   poke along, poking, poky, potter, potter away, procrastinating,
   putter, quiescent, quiet, quietist, quietistic, redundant, relax,
   relaxed, reluctant, repose, rest, resting, retired,
   riding at anchor, saunter, sauntering, semiretired, senseless,
   shallow, shiftless, shuffle along, shuffling, silly, sit around,
   sit back, sit it out, slack, sleep, sleepy, slender, slight,
   slothful, slouch, slouch around, slow, slow as death,
   slow as molasses, slow as slow, slow-crawling, slow-foot,
   slow-going, slow-legged, slow-moving, slow-paced, slow-poky,
   slow-running, slow-sailing, slow-stepped, sluggish, slumber,
   smatter, smolder, snail-paced, snaillike, spare, stagger along,
   staggering, stagnant, stagnate, stagnating, stand around, standpat,
   static, stationary, statuelike, still, stock-still, stroll,
   strolling, superficial, take it easy, tarry, tentative, tinker,
   toddle, toddle along, toddling, tortoiselike, totter along,
   tottering, toy, toy with, traipse, trifle, trifle away, trifling,
   trite, trivial, trudging, turtlelike, twiddle, unavailing, unbased,
   unemployable, unemployed, unfounded, unfruitful, ungrounded,
   unhurried, unimportant, unmoved, unmoving, unoccupied,
   unproductive, unsupportable, unsupported, unsustainable,
   unsustained, untenable, unused, unwarranted, useless, vacuous,
   vain, vapid, vegetable, vegetate, vegetative, waddle, waddling,
   wait and see, walk, waste, watch and wait, while away, windy,
   without basis, without foundation, workless, worm, worm along,
   worthless

[6] : Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002)

idle
     international date line, east +1200 tz
     
     

Idle >> I Words
Idle, definition of term: Idle
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