idle

• enPR: īʹd(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˈaɪd(ə)l/
• (Canada, idle-idol split) IPA^(key): /ˈʌɪdəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪdəl
• Homophones: idol, idyll, idyl (US pronunciation)

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).

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

   idle hours

   My computer hibernates after it has been idle for 30 minutes.

   • 2009, Jane Bryant Quinn, Making the Most of Your Money Now:

     The majority of accounts require no minimum balance and charge no monthly service fee. Where monthly fees and balance requirements exist, they're low. You earn no interest on the idle money in the account.

3. Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.

   Synonyms: unbusied, workless; see also Thesaurus:obsolete, Thesaurus:unemployed

   idle workmen

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.

4. Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.

   Synonyms: indolent, inert; see also Thesaurus:lazy

   an idle fellow

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, […]!”

5. Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.

   Synonyms: petty, pointless; see also Thesaurus:insignificant

   an idle story;  idle talk;  idle rumor;  idle threats;  idle pleasures

6. (obsolete) Light-headed; foolish.

   Synonyms: fatuous, unwise; see also Thesaurus:foolish

   • 1628, John Ford, The Lover's Melancholy:

     The youth is idle

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

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

1. (transitive) To spend (time) in idleness; to waste; to consume.
   • 1912, Frederick Arthur Talbot, Making Good in Canada, page 81:

     […] the ne'er-do-anything-at-home who idled his day in immaculate attire and who was banished to Canada on a "remittance," shares his pork and beans with the sourdough, who has scratched rocks and sifted black sand from his infancy.

   • 1920, Raine Bennett, After the Day: A Collection of Post-war Impressions, page 1:

     While idling the hours I trace verses / On the inside of wrappers embellishing cans Of Bordeaux mackerel, caught in Monterey.

   • 1967, Urner Field Observer, page 49:

     he […] lay in his blind idling the hours until the rising tide would send the shorebirds in across the marsh. Not far off two sons of Southern Italy were lazily transferring a stack of cut salt hay to a one horse hay cart.

   • 2017 September 1, Angela King, The Blood of Kings, Open Road Media, →ISBN:

     'If I know William, he'll be settled in some airy corridor, idling the hours until he can ride in comfort.'

2. (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.

   to idle in an IRC channel

   • 1939, Joan Evans, Chateaubriand, page 32:

     He had already heard of the young man's projected journey — evidently the Comte de Combourg had written many letters while his son idled at St. Malo […]

3. (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
   • 1960 April, “Type "3" Diesel-Electric Locomotives for the Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 246:

     When train heating is in operation the diesel engine is arranged to idle at 550 r.p.m. which is the minimum at which the generator will deliver its full rated output.

   • 2021 October 6, Paul Clifton, “Network News: RSSB research exposes poor air quality on diesel trains”, in RAIL, number 941, page 14:

     High levels of all pollutants were found during time idling in stations.

4. (transitive) To cause (an engine) to idle (run at a slow speed, or out of gear).

   The driver idled his engine until the car finally stalled.

5. (transitive, chiefly of a layoff or a labor strike) To make (workers, students, etc) idle; to leave without work.
   • 1955, United States Bureau of Employment Security, Unemployment Insurance Claims, volumes 11-12, page 14:

     [L]ayoffs idled 1,900 workers in Ohio and 1,000 in Indiana. At the same time, an Indiana assembly plant recalled 1,200 workers.

• (sense 3) idling speed

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

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

   a lumpy idle

   A slight valve tap was audible at idle but was not noticeable otherwise.

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

   Synonyms: idle game, incremental game

• flight idle
• ground idle

• 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.

• Diel, Lide, deli, diel, eild, lied

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

idle

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