idleness
(ˈaɪd(ə)lnɪs)
Forms: see idle a.
[OE. {iacu}delnes, f. {iacu}del idle + -nes -ness.]
† 1. Vanity: in (or on) idleness, in vain (cf. idle n. 1 b). Obs.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter iv. 3 To hwon lufiað ᵹe idelnisse, and soecað leasunge. Ibid. cxxvi[i]. 1 Nemðe dryhten timbrie hus, in idelnisse winnað ða timbriað ða. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 756 Swere nat hys name yn ydulnesse. 1340 Ayenb. 164 Salomon..zayde his dom ine zuiche manere, ‘ydelnesse, ydelnesse, ydelnesse, and al þet ich izi is ydelnesse’. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxvi. (1495) 919 It is not sayd in ydelnesse (thou hast made all in nombre weyghte and mesure). c 1400 Rom. Rose 3323 Ye may wele..Youre wordis waste in idilnesse. |
2. Groundlessness, worthlessness; triviality; ineptitude, futility.
| 1645 Boate Irel. Nat. Hist. (1652) 56 Who seeth not the idleness of that fiction concerning a certain Fountain [etc.]? 1758 H. Walpole Catal. Roy. Authors (1759) II. 17 Who..could accommodate their minds to the utmost idlenesses of litterature. 1885 Sir J. W. Chitty in Law Rep. 31 Ch. Div. 361 The idleness of the proceedings will be afterwards discovered. |
† 3. Light-headedness, imbecility; delirium; also folly, foolishness, silliness. Obs. rare.
| a 1536 Tindale Answ. More etc. (1850) 282 Interpreted..as spoken of idleness of the head, by the reason of sickness. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., The sayde cauteres applyed to the sayd places auayleth to ydlenes, fallynge euyll, paynes of the heade. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xviii. iv, What an idleness it is for foolish hypocrites to hope they can dance in a net, unseen of heaven! 1645 Boate Irel. Nat. Hist. (1652) 181 This Fever..accompanied with..idleness or raving, and restlessness. |
4. The state or condition of being idle or unoccupied; want of occupation; habitual avoidance of work, inactivity, indolence; an instance of this. (Now the ordinary sense.)
bread of idleness, bread not earned by labour; cf. idle bread (idle a. 4 c).
| c 1000 Eccl. Inst. §3 in Thorpe Laws II. 404 Seo ydelnes is þære sawle feond. c 1205 Lay. 24913 Idelnesse makeð mon his monscipe leose. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Ninian 233 Suerdome & Idilnes forto fle. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. lix. 137 Nature loueþ idelnes & bodely reste. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 355 Apelles..was such an enimie to ydlenesse, that his pencill was never drie, but still drawinge a line. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 76 'Tis time we twaine Did shew our selues i' th' Field..Pompey Thriues in our Idlenesse. 1611 Bible Prov. xxxi. 27 She looketh well to the wayes of her housholde, and eateth not the bread of idlenesse [Coverd. her bred with ydilnes]. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 96 ¶3 Playing at Dice with other Servants, and the like Idlenesses. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 153 ¶3 Unable to support any of his children, except his heir, in the hereditary dignity of idleness. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 51 The state..insisted as its natural right that children should not be allowed to grow up in idleness. |