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sloth

noun

  1. laziness and apathy as a sin
  2. suborder of mammals
L27116 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /sləʊθ/ / /slɒθ/ / /slɔθ/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

  1. Laziness; slowness of mind; disinclination to action or labour; a feeling combining indifference and lethargy; a dragging idleness.

    “Hot summer days inspire a sense of sloth in me.”

    “Who having ſpilt much blood, and don much waſte / Subduing Nations, and achievd thereby / Fame in the World, high titles, and rich prey, / Shall change thir courſe to pleaſure, eaſe, and ſloth, / Surfet, and luſt, till wantonneſs and pride / Raiſe out of friendſhip hoſtil deeds in Peace.”

  2. Any animal in the suborder Folivora.
  3. Any animal in the suborder Folivora.
  4. A group of bears.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

  1. To be idle; to idle (away time).

    “He has been slothing this whole weekend.”

    “[…] the most of professors are for imbezzeling, mispending and slothing away their time, their talents, their opportunities to do good in […]”