idle

adj

Etymology: From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel, from Proto-West Germanic *īdal, from Proto-Germanic *īdalaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel (“vain, meaningless”), ijl (“rareified, skinny”), iel (“thin, slender”); German Low German iedel (“vain, idle”); German eitel (“vain, conceited”); and possibly Old Norse illr ("bad"; > English ill).

1. Empty, vacant.
2. Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with no, no important, or not much activity.

   “idle hours”

   “My computer hibernates after it has been idle for 30 minutes.”

3. Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing in particular.

   “idle workmen”

   “Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.”

4. Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.

   “an idle fellow”

   ““I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital,[…]!””

5. Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.

   “an idle story;  idle talk;  idle rumor;  idle threats;  idle pleasures”

6. Light-headed; foolish.

   “The youth is idle”

name

1. A surname.
2. A suburb in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE1737).
3. A river, the River Idle in Nottinghamshire, England, which flows into the River Trent.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel (“idleness”), from the adjective (see above).

1. The state of idling, of being idle.
2. The lowest selectable thrust or power setting of an engine.

   “a lumpy idle”

   “A slight valve tap was audible at idle but was not noticeable otherwise.”

3. An idle animation.
4. An idle game.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English idelen, from Old English īdlian, from Proto-West Germanic *īdalēn. Cognate with German eiteln (“to make empty, free up”).

1. To spend (time) in idleness; to waste; to consume.

   “[…] the ne'er-do-anything-at-home who idled his day in immaculate attire and who was banished to Canada on a "remittance," shares his pork and beans with the sourdough, who has scratched rocks and sifted black sand from his infancy.”

   “While idling the hours I trace verses / On the inside of wrappers embellishing cans Of Bordeaux mackerel, caught in Monterey.”

2. To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.

   “to idle in an IRC channel”

   “He had already heard of the young man's projected journey — evidently the Comte de Combourg had written many letters while his son idled at St. Malo […]”

3. Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.

   “When train heating is in operation the diesel engine is arranged to idle at 550 r.p.m. which is the minimum at which the generator will deliver its full rated output.”

   “High levels of all pollutants were found during time idling in stations.”

4. To cause (an engine) to idle (run at a slow speed, or out of gear).

   “The driver idled his engine until the car finally stalled.”

5. To make (workers, students, etc) idle; to leave without work.

   “[L]ayoffs idled 1,900 workers in Ohio and 1,000 in Indiana. At the same time, an Indiana assembly plant recalled 1,200 workers.”