idle

Edison kept the century-old, out-of-service Mesa-Sylmar line in place for decades, despite knowing idle lines could reenergize and spark fires.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

"Don't be idle: if you can, move," Fava, who recently became a great-grandmother, said in a message to fellow seniors.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

In an idle moment, I did have time to go through my bag of yarn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Higher prices can bring some of that idle capacity back faster than anyone can build a mine, though not overnight.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

“Not very wise, Hermes. What proper employment can they engage in, that way? I foretell the future; Aesculapius cures diseases; you are a good messenger—but these two—are they to idle away their whole time?”

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

There is an almost continuous succession of scenes in which Nicholson sketches this idler, lover, jokester, manipulator, con man, gambler, loner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

Batman co-creator Bob Kane wrote in his 1998 autobiography “Batman and Me”: “The rich foppish Don Diego, Zorro’s alter ego, inspired Bruce Wayne’s facade of being a bored, wealthy idler and playboy.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2020

Oh, that would be the uncle who willed his farm and estate to Onegin, a charming idler.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2020

Behind it all is John D. Rockefeller Jr. — or Junior, as he was known — a man with a feisty wife and few obvious passions beyond the wish to avoid seeming like an idler.

From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2013

The boring spindle is driven by an idler pulley, direct from the countershaft.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose

Shettleston is one of Britain’s poorest, idlest and sickest places; at 64, male life expectancy is 15 years below the national average and falling.

From Economist ● Jul. 10, 2014

On the idlest previous day in the history of the bureau, Feb. 25, 1932, there had been 56 licenses issued.

From Time Magazine Archive

But I'll defy the sternest or the idlest man not to open the leaves of such a work as that when he first takes it out of his new dress-coat.

From The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson By One of the Firm by Anthony Trollope

It ought to be rolled, but we have the idlest gardener boy in the world.

From The Happy Warrior by A. S. M. (Arthur Stuart-Menteth) Hutchinson

He who reads this without sympathy, ought to reject these volumes as the idlest he ever read, and honour me with his contempt.

From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Isaac Disraeli

On a warm day in mid-May, Grohl appears relaxed and self-assured — but not arrogant — as she idles on a sofa in a cozy Studio City ADU owned by her publicist.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

As I sit in the car with C after the second ICE vehicle sped off, the remaining Wagoneer idles midblock—right in front of C’s house.

From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2026

A carpenter whose own narrowboat is moored in a clump of four boats says that when one of his neighbours idles her older diesel engine, the exhaust seeps right into his boat, nearly choking him.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2023

“Billy never idles, so why should you?” the ’80s MTV star growls in a public service announcement intended to shame New Yorkers into shutting the engine off.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2020

The car idles in front of my house.

From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy

The Vibe draws random remarks of praise all the time: Shortly after we moved, a construction worker in Ann Arbor waved me down as I idled at a stoplight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

His girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, idled their car in a disabled parking spot, accompanied by the couple’s other child.

From Slate ● Jun. 4, 2026

He voiced his rage over an empty reservoir, idled fire trucks and what he called dangerous brush clearance policies.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026

Then there is MP, which restarted the Mountain Pass mine in 2018 External link after it had idled in 2015.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

So he slept late; when he woke a light snow was falling, and he idled about the lanes and byways of the town to watch the people busy at their doings.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin

On a recent Tuesday evening, a 16 Handles store in Manhattan was filled with teens idling at tables and charging their phones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

The officer walked up to my idling Impala and informed me that my left taillight was out.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

Missing from the gathering: attendees in flamboyant orange bitcoin suits roaming the halls and Lamborghinis idling out front—the flashy hallmarks of crypto’s boom years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

Three horses have become two, but Hearts are out in front and show no sign of idling.

From BBC ● May 4, 2026

That’s enough storytelling and idling for one day.”

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson