sloth
noun
- laziness and apathy as a sin
- suborder of mammals
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”).
- 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.”
- Any animal in the suborder Folivora.
- Any animal in the suborder Folivora.
- 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”).
- 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 […]”