idle words

См. также в других словарях:

• idle words — noun empty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk that s a lot of wind don t give me any of that jazz • Syn: ↑wind, ↑malarkey, ↑malarky, ↑jazz, ↑nothingness • Derivationally related forms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

• idle — adj 1 *vain, nugatory, otiose, empty, hollow Analogous words: fruitless, bootless, *futile, vain: *ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious: trivial, paltry, *petty, trifling Contrasted words: significant, pregnant, meaningful (see …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

• Idle — I dle, a. [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• Idle pulley — Idle I dle, a. [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• Idle wheel — Idle I dle, a. [Compar. {Idler}; superl. {Idlest}.] [OE. idel, AS. [=i]del vain, empty, useless; akin to OS. [=i]dal, D. ijdel, OHG. [=i]tal vain, empty, mere, G. eitel, Dan. & Sw. idel mere, pure, and prob. to Gr. ? clear, pure, ? to burn. Cf.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• idle — [[t]a͟ɪd(ə)l[/t]] idles, idling, idled 1) ADJ: v link ADJ If people who were working are idle, they have no jobs or work. Employees have been idle almost a month because of shortages. Ant: busy 2) ADJ: v link ADJ If machines or factories are idle …   English dictionary

• idle — 1 adjective 1 not working or operating productively: Owing to the electricity strike, a lot of factory workers were left idle. | We can t afford to have all this expensive machinery lying idle. | the | idle rich (=rich people who do not work for… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

• idle — [OE] ‘Lazy’ is only a secondary meaning of idle. It originally meant ‘useless, worthless’ (as in ‘idle threats’), and the sense ‘lazy’ did not develop until the 13th century (the Old English words for ‘lazy’ were slow and slack). Idle is shared… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

• idle — [OE] ‘Lazy’ is only a secondary meaning of idle. It originally meant ‘useless, worthless’ (as in ‘idle threats’), and the sense ‘lazy’ did not develop until the 13th century (the Old English words for ‘lazy’ were slow and slack). Idle is shared… …   Word origins

• idle — Synonyms and related words: 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,… …   Moby Thesaurus

• idle rich — Synonyms and related words: beggar, bummer, cadger, coupon clippers, drone, freeloader, leisure class, lounge lizard, lumpen proletariat, mendicant, moocher, nonworker, panhandler, parasite, rentiers, spiv, sponger, the unemployable, the… …   Moby Thesaurus