layabout
Americannoun
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of layabout
1930–35; noun use of verb phrase lay about, nonstandard variant of lie about
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To the book’s heartsick narrator, Louise Brown, the man who embodies those old-fashioned virtues is Claude Collier, the 27-year-old layabout scion of an aristocratic New Orleans clan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
But as I dumped fries into a plastic basket, Paquette pointed out an example of optimization even a layabout like me could appreciate.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2025
Katie sees Rachel as little more than a useless layabout waiting to claim the apartment, even though Rachel had been the live-in caregiver before things turned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2024
“And the same guy played Sonic in both shows,” Scott Pilgrim, the doofy 23-year-old layabout of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” shares, unprompted, to his love interest, Ramona Flowers.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2023
The supervisor is sitting extremely comfortably with his legs crossed and his arm hanging over the backrest here like some layabout.
From The Trial by David Wyllie
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
