Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction, or without occupation or employment; a lounging or lazy person; a sluggard.
- n. Nautical, a member of a ship's crew who is not required to keep night-watch.
- n. On board a whaler, one who is not required to assist in the capture of whales.
- n. In machinery, an idle-wheel.
- n. In railroading, an empty car; an empty.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction; a lazy person; a sluggard.
- n. (Naut.) One who has constant day duties on board ship, and keeps no regular watch.
- n. (Mach.) An idle wheel or pulley. See under Idle.
WordNet 3.0
- n. person who does no work
Etymologies
- idle + -er (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Then the idler is a leech on himself -- his own despoiler.”
“They should be taught that to labor is honorable, and that the idler is a menace to the commonwealth.”
“The latter will always bear in mind, that he who worked was a man drawing into the wane of life; that he bore about him the appearance of one who, either from incompetency or from some fatality of fortune, had been doomed to struggle through the world, keeping poverty from his residence only by the aid of great industry and rigid frugality; and that the idler was a youth of an age and condition that the acquisition of an entire set of habiliments formed to him a sort of era in his adventures.”
“That puts him perilously closed to being, by Edward's lights, a dreaded "idler" living off his wife's income.”
“idler," give to the whole little society the aspect of nothing so much as the court of Prinz Irenaeus in Kater Murr's inestimable autobiography.”
“An idler who makes no useful contribution to Florence?”
“Already we've got idler pulleys that snap over a skate bearing that are made on a MakerBot.”
“I fear that he will become an idler, unless we yield the point, and permit him to enter on the profession which he has selected.”
“The idler wheel will be a perfect circle and it's "axle" will be in the exact middle.”
“On a similar note, I have a martin moab, (single cam bow) and just noticed that the string coming off the top idler wheel appears to come off crooked.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘idler’.
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Bad Options
words for those who commit particular crimes: i.e., bank robber, arsonist, etc.
liar, cheat, traitor, arsonist, felon, braggard, thief, profiteer, impostor, phony, fraud, culprit and 213 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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utopia
Words used in the book utopia by sir thomas more
credence, proverb, provost, dissimulation, espy, neologism, vouchsafe, liberality, weal, inquisitive, assentation, verily and 21 more...
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~~Olde-Fashioned Insults~~
ragamuffin, muttonchops, tatterdemalion, nincompoop, whippersnapper, bootlicker, backscratcher, loggerhead, weisenheimer, hornswoggler, thimblerigger, quacksalver and 111 more...
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Words I just like
hobbitry, obfuscate, moribund, bally, idleness, ale, lostwithiel, elfin, spiffing, wayfaring, methinks, abstruse and 123 more...
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GRE Words Not Available in Power Vocab
machinate, barnstorm, pauper, heretical, fawn, inter, provenance, sartorial, mince, martinet, veritable, dignified and 81 more...
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picaresque
An assortment of ruffians, villains and scamps.
(who are remarkably endearing for all they are bad seeds...)ruffian, villain, scamp, imp, fiend, bastard, cad, brute, desperado, miscreant, knave, devil and 62 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for idler.
bilby That's amazing! I read it in a book once! How did.... Jun 18, 2012
dailyword This word was used in "Master And Commander." Jun 18, 2012