bone-idle

bone-idle

See also: bone idle

English

Alternative forms

• bone idle

Etymology

Laziness that penetrates the very bones. Attested 1836.[1] Similar terms (bone-lazy, bone-sore, bone-tired) pre-dated it in The Vocabulary Of East Anglia, 1830, Robert Forby.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

bone-idle (not comparable)

1. (Britain, 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

References

1. Gary Martin (1997–), “Bone idle”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 26 February 2017.

Anagrams

• idebenol