Showing results for "idler"

• comparative of idle.

idler

American  

[ahyd-ler] / ˈaɪd lər /

noun

• idlers
  plural

1. a person who passes time in a lazy or unproductive way.

2. Machinery. an idle gear, wheel, or pulley.

3. Railroads. an empty freight car placed under the projecting end of a long object carried by the next car, so that the latter can be connected with another part of the train.

4. Nautical. day man.

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idler British  

/ ˈaɪdlə /

noun

1. a person who idles

2. another name for idle pulley idle wheel

3. nautical a ship's crew member, such as a carpenter, sailmaker, etc, whose duties do not include standing regular watches

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• idlers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of idler

First recorded in 1525–35; idle + -er ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

idler idlers

There is an almost continuous succession of scenes in which Nicholson sketches this idler, lover, jokester, manipulator, con man, gambler, loner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

Batman co-creator Bob Kane wrote in his 1998 autobiography “Batman and Me”: “The rich foppish Don Diego, Zorro’s alter ego, inspired Bruce Wayne’s facade of being a bored, wealthy idler and playboy.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2020

Oh, that would be the uncle who willed his farm and estate to Onegin, a charming idler.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2020

No idler, he read everything and studied at universities throughout Germany and France.

From New York Times ● May 14, 2011

That dusty city has, like others in the south, distractions to offer the idler with liberal views, though a certain proportion of them are of distinctly doubtful character.

From Long Odds by Harold Bindloss

During a BBC leadership debate, she was challenged about a comment in Britannia Unchained, describing British workers as "among the worst idlers in the world".

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2022

This is something I have thought about more and more in recent years, and it is why I have always preferred doers to idlers, whiners and excuse-makers.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2022

Contrary to predictions by slavery’s defenders, the liberated slaves did not become idlers, but divided their time between continued plantation work and cultivating individual plots the army assigned them.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

Those idlers — the Trumps of the world — are Alger’s villains.

From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2017

So they took to keeping her below decks when they passed a lockkeeper’s cottage or a canal basin, or anywhere there were likely to be idlers hanging about.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

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