What's the difference between idle and prowl?

Idle


Definition:

  • (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.

Prowl


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; esp., to search in, as for prey or booty.
  • (v. t.) To collect by plunder; as, to prowl money.
  • (v. i.) To rove or wander stealthily, esp. for prey, as a wild beast; hence, to prey; to plunder.
  • (n.) The act of prowling.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He was a prowling, volcanic presence on the touchline.
  • (2) It did not seem April was specifically targeted, the judge said, telling Bridger he was seemingly "on the prowl for a young girl".
  • (3) It’s one thing to let the lion prowl around your stock pen, it’s another to open the gate and let him in,” he said.
  • (4) The multimillionaire darling of the grassroots party faithful had stormed out of Margaret Thatcher's cabinet only a year earlier, and was now prowling the backbenches, preparing to wield the knife that would finish her off.
  • (5) On the other side of the door gunmen were by now prowling the corridor, looking for British and American guests to kill.
  • (6) In response to Alex Salmond's manouevres, he has recently been out on the prowl himself, thinking aloud about what Scottish independence might mean for his country, and suggesting radical changes to the way that Britain's institutions work.
  • (7) Quite how the pandas will feel after 10 years of prowling this same patch is open to suggestion.
  • (8) I’ve been doing this since I was 22.” A couple of local union organizers prowled the sidewalks, asking applicants to sign union cards, but they walked right past Kevin Moynihan, who cut an imposing figure clad all in black.
  • (9) But who would wish to buy in an age when Uber’s smartphone app prowls the land?
  • (10) When they spotted a gang prowling in a street out of bounds to Muslims, they called their Christian vigilante counterparts.
  • (11) Gates would prowl the car park to see who came in on the weekend.
  • (12) The story begins in 1960 when the 43-year-old Anthony Burgess returned from Singapore to find the England he'd left in the late Forties transformed into an ugly divided country where the last seedy Teds prowled the streets of London and race riots had erupted in our big cities.
  • (13) A few years ago, on a field trip, he spotted a common leopard prowling well into snow leopard heights.
  • (14) News that he is on the prowl can cause his prey's management to be driven to distraction to the point where the company is in danger of imploding.
  • (15) When the rest of the industry was building computers as grey, rectangular metal boxes, for example, he was prowling department stores and streets looking for design metaphors.
  • (16) Banking is changing: statements are paperless, payments are mobile, branches are sparser, more automated, populated by beaming cashiers prowling around with iPads.
  • (17) With Boris Johnson on the prowl, they have to gently trash the mayor of London.
  • (18) Alistair Campbell prowled around snapping at the snappers' heels.
  • (19) Yet as Bush throws everything he has this week at boosting his moribund poll numbers – from announcing dozens of party endorsements, to buying airtime for political ads and prowling television studios like never before – some palpable question marks are beginning to hang over campaign stops like this.
  • (20) Microsoft's Kinectimals has prowled onto iOS and Android.

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