idleness
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English ydelnesse, from Old English īdelnes, from Proto-West Germanic *īdalnassī, equivalent to idle + -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian īdelnisse (“idelness”), obsolete Dutch ijdelnis, Old Saxon īdalnussi (“idleness, vanity”), Old High German ītalnissa (“idleness, vanity, emptiness”).
Pronunciation
Noun
idleness (countable and uncountable, plural idlenesses)
- The state of being idle; inactivity.
- The state of being indolent; indolence.
- 1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature D3, verso:
- For either they be puffed vp vvith pride, / Or fraught vvith enuie that their galls do ſvvell, / Or they their dayes to ydleneſſe diuide, / Or drovvnded lie in pleaſures vvaſtefull vvell, / In vvhich like Moldvvarps [i.e., moles] nouſling ſtill they lurke, / Vnmyndfull of chiefe parts of manlineſſe, / And do themſelues for vvant of other vvorke, / Vaine votaries of laeſie loue profeſſe, […]
- Groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality; vanity; frivolity.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
state of being idle; inactivity
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state of being indolent
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groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality
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Anagrams
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