idle pulley

or idler pulley

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noun Machinery.

a loose pulley made to press or rest on a belt in order to tighten or guide it.

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Also called idle wheel.

Origin of idle pulley

First recorded in 1885–1890

Words nearby idle pulley

IDK, idle, idle character, idle gear, idleness, idle pulley, idler, idler shaft, idlesse, idle time, idle wheel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use idle pulley in a sentence

And in the summer, when the lift is idle, it feeds juice into the local community.
Solar Powered Ski Lift|The Daily Beast|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Middle-aged, out-of-shape Putin sat idle and silent as his dreams and hopes for the future were destroyed.
How the Fall of the Berlin Wall Radicalized Putin|Masha Gessen|November 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Any upcoming release of a new Apple product guarantees a deafening cacophony of idle speculation from tech sites.
Amateur Stuntmen, the iPhone 6, and More Viral Videos|Jack Holmes|August 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The rest of the police looked on, sitting idle on horses in front of Starbucks.
New York Solidarity as Michael Brown Protests Go National|Gideon Resnick|August 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST

So we had to have a pulley system where he was lowered on cables.
Rob Reiner on the State of Romcoms, ‘The Princess Bride’s’ Alternate Ending, and the Red Viper|Marlow Stern|July 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It's an idle question, I know; wise men and musty philosophers say that regrets are foolish.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
He worketh under correction, and seeketh to rest: let his hands be idle, and he seeketh liberty.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
There was a deep silence throughout the whole bivouac; some were sleeping, and those who watched were in no humour for idle chat.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
While the fortress was undermining at home, they were not idle, who were preparing to storm it from abroad.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
The lower class were idle and lazy, and willing to serve any sovereign who appealed to them by ostentation.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison

British Dictionary definitions for idle pulley

idle pulley

idler pulley

noun

a freely rotating trolley used to control the tension or direction of a beltAlso called: idler

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012