Part 15

The idle spear and shield were high uphing.

Milton.

3. Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.

Why stand ye here all the day idle?

Matt. xx. 6.

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

5. Light-headed; foolish. [Obs.] Ford.

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. -- 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.

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.

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

I"dle-head`ed (?), a. 1. Foolish; stupid. [Obs.] "The superstitious idle-headed eld." Shak.

2. Delirious; infatuated. [Obs.] L'Estrange.

I"dle*ness, n. [AS. delnes.] The condition or quality of being idle (in the various senses of that word); uselessness; fruitlessness; triviality; inactivity; laziness.

Syn. -- Inaction; indolence; sluggishness; sloth.

I"dle-pat`ed (?), a. Idle-headed; stupid. [Obs.]

I"dler (?), n. 1. One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction; a lazy person; a sluggard.

2. (Naut.) One who has constant day duties on board ship, and keeps no regular watch. Totten.

3. (Mach.) An idle wheel or pulley. See under Idle.

{ I"dless, I"dlesse } (?), n. Idleness. [Archaic] "In ydlesse." Spenser.

And an idlesse all the day Beside a wandering stream.

Mrs. Browning.

I"dly (?), adv. In a idle manner; ineffectually; vainly; lazily; carelessly; (Obs.) foolishly.

Id"o*crase (d"*krs; 277), n. [Gr. e'i^dos form + kra^sis mixture, fr. keranny`nai to mix; cf. F. idocrase.] (Min.) Same as Vesuvianite.

I"dol (?), n. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. &?;, fr. &?; that which is seen, the form, shape, figure, fr. &?; to see. See Wit, and cf. Eidolon.] 1. An image or representation of anything. [Obs.]

Do her adore with sacred reverence, As th' idol of her maker's great magnificence.

Spenser.

2. An image of a divinity; a representation or symbol of a deity or any other being or thing, made or used as an object of worship; a similitude of a false god.