bone-idle

See also: bone idle

English

Alternative forms

• bone idle

Etymology

Laziness that penetrates the very bones. Attested 1836. Similar terms (bone-lazy, bone-sore, bone-tired) pre-dated it in The Vocabulary Of East Anglia, 1830, Robert Forby.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

bone-idle (not comparable)

1. (British, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, idiomatic) Utterly lazy.
   • 1836, Thomas Carlyle, New Letters:

     For the last three weeks I have been going what you call bone-idle.

Translations

utterly lazy

• Finnish: patalaiska (fi)
• French: fainéant (fr), (colloquial) cossard (fr), (colloquial) flemmard (fr), (informal) glandouilleur (fr), oisif (fr)
• Maori: māngere hōnia

See also

• dead tired

Anagrams

• idebenol