(superl.) Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.
(superl.) Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.
(superl.) Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.
(superl.) Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.
(superl.) Light-headed; foolish.
(v. i.) To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.
(v. t.) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.
Example Sentences:
(1) Even with hepatic lipase, phospholipid hydrolysis could not deplete VLDL and IDL of sufficient phospholipid molecules to account for the loss of surface phospholipid that accompanies triacylglycerol hydrolysis and decreasing core volume as LDL is formed (or for conversion of HDL2 to HDL3).
(2) Eager to show I was a good student, the next time we had sex, I noticed that one of my hands was, indeed, lying idle – and started to pat him on the back, absently, as if trying to wind a baby.
(3) And imagine he then found that, far from acting swiftly to capture, arrest and charge him, the Metropolitan police force (who knew something about his activities) initially stood idly by as his list of victims grew and grew.
(4) The balance is fragile and the threat of a spiral of decline is not an idle one.
(5) The KBS hypothesis of autism is not simply an idle exercise.
(6) "There are idle MPs with no outside interests and there are fantastic public servants that do have them."
(7) On Saturday an idle digg ing machine signalled the hasty clearing of the building site to make way for the refugees, who have fled from countries including Syria and Eritrea .
(8) In circumstances in which energy conversion rate and supplies of reducing power exceed the capacity of the biosynthetic machinery, energy-dependent H2 production presumably represents a regulatory device that facilitates "energy-idling."
(9) Relative to EM, Meritec had the highest specificity (97%), followed by Virogen (95%), IDL (91%), Pathfinder (85%), Behring (81%), Bartels (72%), and Rotazyme (71%).
(10) Thus, introducing fish oil into an atherogenic diet reduced the number of VLDL, IDL and LDL particles in plasma by as much as 50%, reduced the cholesteryl ester content of the circulating lipoprotein, and reduced the ability of the VLDL to stimulate cholesterol esterification in macrophages.
(11) 12.44am BST Ah, here's @NotCoachTito, sitting somewhere idly wondering what it's like in Fenway tonight...actually, he may have a decent idea of the atmosphere.
(12) It was on the set of The Frost Report that production staff began to refer to Barker and Corbett as "the two Ronnies", while the writing team included Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, and Eric Idle – every Monty Python member bar Terry Gilliam – as well as Marty Feldman and lead writer Antony Jay, who went on to create Yes, Minister.
(13) Moreover, a larger fraction of plasma VLDL is transformed into IDL and LDL, the latter representing the main plasma cholesterol carrier.
(14) Hagere Selam remains a modest place of mudwalled shops with corrugated roofs, cows, donkeys and sheep wandering unpaved streets and children idling away an afternoon at table football – a generation with no memory of the famine that killed hundreds of thousands and woke up the world.
(15) Epidemiological studies in humans suggest that IDL or remnant lipoproteins are predictors of the severity or progression of atherosclerosis.
(16) It would be idle to pretend that Cameron doesn't have talents as a leader.
(17) A chlorine sanitizer was circulated (5 min, 40 degrees C) and the unit containing sanitizing solution left idle overnight.
(18) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Either way, I love Jane for idly sticking two fingers up at the idea of a spa break in Rhodes or other emblems of “sophistication” being the only thing to aspire to.
(19) Bidders have spent an estimated £1m each on their bids but, according to one industry source, the process has stalled and franchise owners are being forced to retain expensive but idle bidding teams.
(20) The results indicate that a simple depletion of his-tRNA is not sufficient to elicit the response and suggest that idle ribosomes are required for regulation.
Piffle
Definition:
Example Sentences:
(1) Is it hopelessly old fart-ish to hope exposure that to the horrors described by Buergenthal will remind all of us of the piffling nature of our next household conflagration about who gets to wear which pair of jeans, or whether homework on the weekend really constitutes a hardship – or even, somehow, temper the demand for new electronic equipment?
(2) If he can't do this here, then his global rhetoric will look thin indeed - and it's no use announcing some piffling sum and pretending it will do.
(3) Dan Nolan (@dannolan) PEFO more like piffle boom August 13, 2013 3.40am BST Bowen is asked whether the assumptions in PEFO are a reflection on the efficacy or otherwise of the PNG Solution.
(4) The bottom line for us is they were asking the taxpayers for $50m to buy new plant and equipment … so Coca-Cola Amatil could make a larger profit,” Hockey said, as he campaigned for next weekend’s by-election in the Brisbane seat of Griffith But Sharman Stone, the Coalition backbencher who represents the area, said the government is “scapegoating” SPC Ardmona and exaggerating “piffling” issues in the companies’ enterprise agreement to draw the struggling fruit manufacturer into a “union witch-hunt”.
(5) The government is “scapegoating” SPC Ardmona and exaggerating “piffling” issues in the companies’ enterprise agreement to draw the struggling fruit manufacturer into a “union witch-hunt”, the Coalition backbencher Sharman Stone has said.
(6) As a result, disabled people are losing more than any other group, not by some piffling, coincidental amount, but by a factor of three or four; by thousands of pounds a year.
(7) It’s true that claimants are sanctioned for piffling reasons .
(8) The targets aren't piffling, incidentally – they are significantly beyond "answering to your name".
(9) There was never any question of me being offered it, or of it being debated … It’s just, as they say, poppycock and piffle.” The tensions surrounding the reshuffle were illustrated in the early evening as a heated discussion appeared to break out in Corbyn’s office after the Labour leader outlined his thinking for the reshuffle to Benn.
(10) Eurosceptics are right to think that the terms secured are piffling, even if he gets everything on the table.
(11) But there is, at least, anecdotal evidence to suggest that the often perceptive mayor's notion is an "inverted pyramid of piffle".
(12) Over the past century they were used not only to "explain" this piffle about cornflakes but, more insidiously, to explain differences in achievement between black and white schoolchildren in the US.
(13) Cameron found himself on the back foot, defending his plans to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership in the face of Lawson's contemptuous assessment that he will secure only "piffling changes".
(14) The DfE’s guidelines on the use of exclamation marks for its spelling and grammar tests were “piffle” and “tortuous nonsense”, according to Blower.
(15) But Stone, the member for the seat of Murray which includes Shepparton, said the provisions were “piffling” and “add up at most to a few thousand dollars when the company has been losing millions at the plant because of the broader economic conditions and because of the government’s policies.” The “wet” allowance, she said, had only ever been paid to workers who provided their own protective “space suits” to be worn when using caustic soda to clean the plant.
(16) Sandler, a perennial Razzie "favourite", saw his film beat rivals such as Will and Jaden Smith sci-fi bomb After Earth , festive celluloid piffle A Madea Christmas and ensemble turkey Movie 43 , all of which scored six nominations.
(17) These sentiments are dismissed by Merivel's Quaker friend, Pearce, as "pagan, freakish piffle", but Merivel clings to them, orders an artist's smock and a floppy hat, canvases, pigments and brushes, and sets about his task with his characteristic over-enthusiasm, only to understand very quickly that his work has no value whatsoever.
(18) But he wrote a load of racist, reactionary, negative, neocon piffle."
(19) There was never any question of me being offered it, or of it being debated … It’s just, as they say, poppycock and piffle.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest “It’s poppycock and piffle”: Diane Abbott dismisses shadow foreign secretary rumour Lewis, a new MP who has served in the army in Afghanistan, said he would not be keen to take on a shadow cabinet role so quickly.
(20) Instead, I'm snacking on the scraps of joyous piffle like Alex Polizzi's The Fixer .