idle

an idle brain is the devil's workshop

proverb When one has nothing to do, one is more likely to get into trouble. When I'm off from school, my grandmother is always trying to get me out of the house, while reminding me that an idle brain is the devil's workshop.
See also: brain, idle, workshop

be bone idle

To be extremely lazy. Can you please get Billy to go to the playground or something? He's been bone idle, just laying around all day.
See also: bone, idle

bone-idle

Extremely lazy. Can you please get Billy to go to the playground or something? He's just laying around all day, being bone-idle.

idle about

To be lazy. Can you please get Billy to go to the playground or something? He's just been idling about all day.
See also: idle

idle away

To waste an interval of time in laziness or inactivity. A noun or pronoun can be used between "idle" and "away." Don't idle the whole day away, or else you'll be up all night finishing your science project. I idled away a few hours and then got back to my research.
See also: away, idle

idle folk have the least leisure

proverb People who are slow to finish their work ultimately have less free time. Idle folk have the least leisure, you know. So if you would just write your paper instead of procrastinating, you'd have some time to really relax.
See also: folk, have, idle, least, leisure

idle hands are the devil's playthings

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. Idle hands are the devil's playthings, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. Idle hands are the devil's playthings, after all.
See also: hand, idle

idle hands are the devil's tools

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. Idle hands are the devil's tools, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. Idle hands are the devil's tools, after all.
See also: hand, idle, tool

idle hands are the devil's workshop

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. Idle hands are the devil's workshop, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. Idle hands are the devil's workshop, after all.
See also: hand, idle, workshop

idle people have the least leisure

proverb People who are slow to finish their work ultimately have less free time. Idle people have the least leisure, you know. So if you would just write your paper instead of procrastinating, you'd have some time to really relax.
See also: have, idle, least, leisure, people

the devil finds work for idle hands

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. The devil finds work for idle hands, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. The devil finds work for idle hands, after all.
See also: devil, find, hand, idle, work

the devil finds work for idle hands to do

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. The devil finds work for idle hands to do, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. The devil finds work for idle hands to do, after all.
See also: devil, find, hand, idle, work

the devil makes work for idle hands

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. The devil makes work for idle hands, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. The devil finds work for idle hands, after all.
See also: devil, hand, idle, make, work

the devil makes work for idle hands to do

proverb When one is unoccupied or has nothing to do, one is more likely to cause or get into trouble. The devil makes work for idle hands to do, so is it any surprise they started causing mischief after being left to their own devices for so long? We try to keep our kids busy with various jobs and activities during their summer break. The devil makes work for idle hands to do, after all.
See also: devil, hand, idle, make, work
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

devil finds work for idle hands to do

Prov. If you do not have useful work to do, you will be tempted to do frivolous or harmful things to get rid of your boredom. Knowing that the devil finds work for idle hands to do, Elizabeth always made sure that her children had plenty of chores to keep them occupied.
See also: devil, find, hand, idle, work

idle about

to loiter around, doing nothing. Please don't idle about. Get busy! Andy is idling about today.
See also: idle

idle brain is the devil's workshop

Prov. People who have nothing worthwhile to think about will usually think of something bad to do. We need to figure out something constructive for Tom to do in the afternoons after school. An idle brain is the devil's workshop.
See also: brain, idle, workshop

Idle people have the least leisure.

 and Idle folk have the least leisure.
Prov. If you are not energetic and hardworking, you will never have any free time, since you will have to spend all your time finishing your work. My grandmother always told me not to dawdle, since idle people have the least leisure.
See also: have, idle, least, leisure, people

idle something away

Fig. to waste one's time in idleness; to waste a period of time, such as an afternoon, evening, one's life. She idled the afternoon away and then went to a party. Don't idle away the afternoon.
See also: away, idle
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

ˌbone ˈidle

(British English, informal) (of a person) very lazy: The family consists of Vera, her intensely irritating husband and her two bone idle sons.
See also: bone, idle

the devil makes work for idle ˈhands

(saying) people who do not have enough to do often start to do wrong: She blamed the crimes on the local jobless teenagers. ‘The devil makes work for idle hands,’ she would say.
See also: devil, hand, idle, make, work
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

idle away

v.
To spend some period of time not working or avoiding work: I idled the day away. The children idled away the summer.
See also: away, idle
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • as one door closes, another (one) opens
  • as one door closes, another one opens
  • as one door closes, another opens
  • give (someone) an inch and (someone) (will) take a mile
  • give (someone) an inch and (someone) (will) take a yard
  • drive (one) out of office
  • force (one) out of office
  • force out of office
  • give (one) (one's) head
  • give head
References in periodicals archive
A change in the accounting for idle capacity costs would result in costs that are not affected by production levels, thus breaking the link between excess capacity and excess production and averting the downward spiral effect of rewarding dysfunctional behavior.
Idle capacity costs: it isn't just the expense
ENERGY RESOURCE-2 March 2009-CONSOL Energy Idles Virginia Coal Mine, Citing Market Conditions, Water Disposal Ruling(C)2009 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com
CONSOL Energy Idles Virginia Coal Mine, Citing Market Conditions, Water Disposal Ruling
There are many reasons why people will tell you they should idle their vehicles' engines.
An exhaustingly bad habit
* Vision: The Investment Recovery Association will be the premier resource for quality education and training, internationally recognized certification, research and an international network of accomplished industry professionals managing surplus and idle assets.
Complete recovery: investment recovery helps several parties reach a better bottom-line result
In the article, scientists drew the conclusion that busy brain connections may have the downside of producing "amyloid beta, the waxy protein implicated in Alzheimer's disease." I don't see why the following conclusion wasn't reached: Idle brains may have a downside.
Daydream on
"As the large ranches are carved up into tiny landholdings the big cats will disappear," says Mel Sunquist, a wildlife ecology professor at the University of Florida who has researched pumas and jaguars at the 80,000-hectare Hate Pinero, recently declared idle and taken by the state.
The plot thickens: Venezuela seizes private ranches and gives them to the poor, which has businesses--and environmentalists--worried
Studies indicate the average US long haul truck engine idles over 1800 hours annually.
Keep on/off trucking: alternative approach to powering HVAC in diesel rigs
The second is termed avoidable and includes times when truck drivers idle for cab comfort--air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter--or to operate onboard auxiliaries such as televisions and computers.
Financing idle-reduction projects: new technologies offer cost-effective strategies to limit air emissions at truckstops
Cancer researchers are borrowing school computers during idle periods to help develop potential cancer-fighting therapies with fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.
Kentucky computers to fight cancer
Read by Bob McCabe, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, John Cleese.
The Pythons: Autobiography by the Pythons
Says Biel, "It is less costly for us to idle these plants than to run them."
Dow idles more PE capacity
Comedian and writer Eric Idle, 60: Born in SouthShields, Co Durham, in 1943, the Monty Python comedian was only two when his father, a RAF serviceman, was killed in a car crash.
Archive: Birthdays
"The recent escalation in energy costs combined with unfavorable feedstock costs have forced Dow to idle a portion of La Porte's PMDI capacity," said Stephanie Barbour, business director for Dow's polyurethanes rigids and CASE business.
Dow idles portion of PMDI production at TX facility. (Industry News)
With the very large host systems that run these databases, it is very easy to overpower a traditional disk subsystem with random I/Os causing the host to sit idle while waiting for the disks to respond.
Dynamic SAN optimization: Leveraging SANs in ways never though possible. (SAN)
said Tuesday it has developed new software that combines computing functions of idle personal computers (PCs) at work to enable other PCs to perform better.
Dai Nippon Printing develops new software for combining PCs