Idle

King James Dictionary

I'DLE, a.

1. Not employed unoccupied with business inactive doing nothing.

Why stand ye here all the day idle?  Matthew 20

To be idle, is to be vicious.

2. Slothful given to rest and ease averse to labor or employment lazy as an idle man an idle fellow. 3. Affording leisure vacant not occupied as idle time idle hours. 4. Remaining unused unemployed applied to things as, my sword or spear is idle. 5. Useless vain ineffectual as idle rage. 6. Unfruitful barren not productive of good.

Of antres vast and idle desarts.

Idle weeds.

7. Trifling vain of no importance as an idle story an idle reason idle arguments. 8. Unprofitable not tending to edification.

Every idle word that men shall speak,they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.  Matthew 12

Idle differs from lazy the latter implying constitutional or habitual aversion or indisposition to labor or action, sluggishness whereas idle, in its proper sense, denotes merely unemployed. An industrious man may be idle, but he cannot be lazy.

I'DLE, To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

To idle away, in a transitive sense, to spend in idleness as, to idle away time.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Ἀργός (Strong'S #692 — Adjective — argos — ar-gos' )

denotes "inactive, idle, unfruitful, barren" (a, negative, and ergon, "work;" cp. the verb katargeo, "to reduce to inactivity:" See ABOLISH); it is used (a) literally,  Matthew 20:3,6;  1—Timothy 5:13 (twice);   Titus 1:12 , Rv , "idle (gluttons);"  2—Peter 1:8 , Rv , "idle," AV, "barren;" (b) metaphorically in the sense of "ineffective, worthless," as of a word,  Matthew 12:36; of faith unaccompanied by works,  James 2:20 (some mss. have nekra, "dead").

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( superl.) Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.

(2): ( superl.) Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.

(3): ( v. i.) To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.

(4): ( superl.) Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.

(5): ( superl.) Light-headed; foolish.

(6): ( superl.) Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.

(7): ( v. t.) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; - often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Thessalonians 3:10 1 Timothy 5:9 Proverbs 19:15 Proverbs 10:4 Proverbs 14:23 Ecclesiastes 10:18 Proverbs 31:27 Proverbs 31:16 31:24 2 Thessalonians 3:7-8 Matthew 20:6-7 Leviticus 19:13 Jeremiah 22:13 James 5:4

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Matthew 12:36 (a) The words mentioned here are spoken words which do no good work for GOD or man. Idle men are men who are not working. Idle words are words that are not working. They are words which when spoken have no value whatever to either GOD or man.

 Matthew 20:3 (b) This is a picture of Christians who have not taken up any definite work for GOD but who are spectators in the game of life so far as the church and the Gospel are concerned.

 Luke 24:11 (b) These tales are stories that have no usable point, give no information, and have no value for their hearers.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In  Matthew 12:36 , means empty and fruitless. The "idle word" which Christ condemns, is a word morally useless and evil.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( רְמַיָּה , Slothful, also Deceitful; רָפָה , to Be Weak, in Niph. to Be Lazy,  Exodus 5:8;  Exodus 5:17; עִצְלוּת , Indolence,  Proverbs 31:27; שַׁפְלוּת , Remissness,  Ecclesiastes 10:18; שָׁקִט , to Rest,  Ezekiel 16:49; Ἀργός , not working, literally,  Matthew 20:3;  Matthew 20:6;  1 Timothy 5:13; Unfruitful,  2 Peter 1:8; Stupid,  Titus 1:12; morally,  Matthew 12:36; Λῆρος , an " Idle Tale,"  Luke 24:11). Of the foregoing instances of the use of this word, the only one requiring special consideration is  Matthew 12:36, "I say unto you. that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment," where there has been considerable difference of opinion as to the interpretation of Ρῆμα Ἀργόν , translated "idle word." To the ordinary explanation, which makes the phrase here equivalent to vain, and hence wicked language, J. A. H. Tittman, in an extended criticism (On the principal Causes of Forced Interpret. of the N.T., printed in the Amer. Bib. Repos. for 1831, p. 481- 484), objects that it violates the native meaning of the word, which rather denotes an empty, inconsiderate, and hence insincere conversation or statement, appealing to the context which is aimed at the hypocritical Pharisees. On the other hand, the usual interpretation is supported by the actual occurrence of Πονηρόν , Wicked, in the parallel  Matthew 12:35, and by the usage of other Greek writers, e.g., Symmachus in  Leviticus 19:7, for פַּגּולּ , where Sept. Ἄδυτον ; Xenoph. Mem. 1,2,57; Cicero, De Fat. 12. (See Kuinol, ad loc.) The term is probably intended to be of wide signification, so as to include both these senses, namely, Levity and Calumny, as being both species of untruth and heedlessly uttered, yet productive of mischief.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

The ordinary uses of this word require no illustration. But the very serious passage in may suitably be noticed in this place. In the Authorized Version it is translated, 'I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.' The whole question depends upon the meaning, or rather the force, of the term rendered 'idle word,' concerning which there has been no little difference of opinion. Many understand it to mean 'wicked and injurious words;' but this interpretation has been examined with much nicety by Dr. Tittmann, and shown to be untenable. He contends that we must necessarily understand by the phrase a certain kind of words or discourse, which, under the appearance of sincerity or candor, is often the worst possible, and 'condemns a man,' because it is uttered with an evil purpose. The meaning of the expression, then, seems to be void of effect, without result, followed by no corresponding event. Therefore 'idle words' are empty or vain words or discourse, i.e. void of truth, and to which the event does not correspond. In short, it is the empty inconsiderate, insincere language of one who says one thing and means another. This Tittmann confirms by a number of citations; and then deduces from the whole that the sense of the passage under review is: 'Believe me, he who uses false and insincere language shall suffer grievous punishment: your words, if uttered with sincerity and ingenuousness, shall be approved; but if they are dissembled, although they bear the strongest appearance of sincerity, they shall be condemned.'