Idle vs Wander - What's the difference?
idle | wander |
(lb) Empty, vacant.
Not turned to appropriate use; not occupied.
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Not engaged in any occupation or employment; unemployed; inactive; doing nothing.
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*:Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
Averse to work, labor or employment; lazy; slothful.
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*:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle , brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital,!”
Of no importance; useless; worthless; vain; trifling; thoughtless; silly.
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(lb) Light-headed; foolish.
:(Ford)
To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume.
To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
* 1939 , Joan Evans, Chateaubriand (page 32)
Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
(lb) To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
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*(Bible), (w) xi.37:
*:They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.
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*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
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*:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
(lb) To stray; stray from one's course; err.
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*(Bible), (Psalms) cxix.10:
*:O, let me not wander from thy commandments.
(lb) To commit adultery.
(lb) To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
(lb) Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.
In intransitive terms the difference between idle and wander
is that idle is of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over while wander is of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.As verbs the difference between idle and wander
is that idle is to spend in idleness; to waste; to consume while wander is to move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.As an adjective idle
is empty, vacant.As a noun wander is
the act or instance of wandering.idle
English
(wikipedia idle)Adjective
(en adjective)Derived terms
* idle hands are the devil's workshop * idle pulley * idle wheelSynonyms
* See alsoVerb
(idl)- to idle in an IRC channel
- He had already heard of the young man's projected journey — evidently the Comte de Combourg had written many letters while his son idled at St. Malo
