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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



47 words match “IDLENESS”

LANGUID a.
ss or heaviness; as, a languid day. Feebly she laugheth in the languid moon. Keats. Their idleness, aimless and languid airs. W. Black.
LAZE v.
To waste in sloth; to spend, as time, in idleness; as, to laze away whole days. [Colloq.]
LOAF v. 2 definitions
To spend time in idleness; to lounge or loiter about. " Loafing vagabonds." W. Black.
LORETTE n.
In France, a name for a woman who is supported by her lovers, and devotes herself to idleness, show, and pleasure; -- so called from the church of Notre Dame de Lorette, in Paris, near which many of them resided.
MOULE v.
To contract mold; to grow moldy; to mold. [Obs.] Let us not moulen thus in idleness. Chaucer.
OTIOSITY n.
Leisure; indolence; idleness; ease. [R.] Thackeray.
OXYMORON n.
epithet of a contrary signification is added to a word; e. g., cruel kindness; laborious idleness.
PANSY n.
have very large flowers of a great diversity of colors. Called also heart's-ease, love-in-idleness, and many other quaint names.
PARENT n.
That which produces; cause; source; author; begetter; as, idleness is the parent of vice. Regular industry is the parent of sobriety. Channing. Parent cell. (Biol.) See Mother cell, under Mother, also Cytula. -- Parent nucleus (Biol.), a nucleus which, in cell division, divides, and gives rise to two or more daughter…
PREMIUM n.
e law that obliges parishes to support the poor offers a premium for the encouragement of idleness. Franklin.
ROUSE v.
To excite to lively thought or action from a state of idleness, languor, stupidity, or indifference; as, to rouse the faculties, passions, or emotions. To rouse up a people, the most phlegmatic of any in Christendom. Atterbury.
RUST v.
Fig.: To degenerate in idleness; to become dull or impaired by inaction. Must I rust in Egypt never more Appear in arms, and be the chief of Greece Dryden.
SLEWTH n.
Sloth; idleness. [Obs.] Chaucer.
SLOTH n.
Disinclination to action or labor; sluggishness; laziness; idleness. [They] change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth. Milton. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears. Franklin.
SLUGGARDY n.
The state of being a sluggard; sluggishness; sloth. Gower. Idleness is rotten sluggardy. Chaucer.
SPIN v.
To protract; to spend by delays; as, to spin out the day in idleness. By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives. L'Estrange.
TAX v.
ally, to exact money from for the support of government. We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride, and folly than we are taxed by government. Franklin.
TRUANTLY adv.
Like a truant; in idleness.
TRUANTSHIP n.
The conduct of a truant; neglect of employment; idleness; truancy. Ascham.
UNBUSIED a.
d to work; unemployed; not busy. [R.] These unbusied persons can continue in this playing idleness till it become a toil. Bp. Rainbow
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