word-vault
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A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.
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{
"term": "idle",
"partOfSpeech": "adjective",
"definitions": [
{
"senseNumber": 1,
"definition": "not working hard",
"labels": "(disapproving)",
"examples": [
{
"text": "an idle student"
}
],
"synonyms": "lazy",
"collocations": {
"verbs": ["be", "become", "remain"],
"adverb": ["bone"]
}
},
{
"senseNumber": 2,
"definition": "not in use",
"examples": [
{
"text": "to **lie/stand/remain idle**"
},
{
"text": "Half their machines are lying idle."
},
{
"text": "He did not let the factory become idle."
},
{
"text": "The pumps are standing idle."
},
{
"text": "The land was left idle for years."
}
],
"collocations": {
"verbs": ["be", "lie", "sit"]
}
},
{
"senseNumber": 3,
"definition": "without work",
"examples": [
{
"text": "Over ten per cent of the workforce is now idle."
},
{
"text": "He never stayed idle for long."
}
],
"synonyms": "unemployed"
},
{
"senseNumber": 4,
"definition": "with no particular purpose or effect",
"examples": [
{
"text": "**idle chatter/curiosity**"
},
{
"text": "It was just an **idle threat** *(= not serious)*."
},
{
"text": "**It is idle to** pretend that their marriage is a success."
}
]
},
{
"senseNumber": 5,
"definition": "not spent doing work or something particular",
"examples": [
{
"text": "In idle moments, he carved wooden figures."
}
]
},
{
"senseNumber": null,
"definition": "people who do not have enough to do often start to do wrong",
"labels": "(saying)",
"examples": [
{
"text": "She blamed the crimes on the local jobless teenagers. ‘The devil makes work for idle hands,’ she would say."
}
]
}
],
"pronunciations": {
"uk": [
{
"pronunciation": "/ˈaɪdl/",
"audio": "id/idle/idle__gb_1.mp3"
}
],
"us": [
{
"pronunciation": "/ˈaɪdl/",
"audio": "id/idle/idle__us_1.mp3"
}
]
},
"wordOrigin": "Old English īdel ‘empty, useless’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijdel ‘vain, frivolous, useless’ and German eitel ‘bare, worthless’."
}