bone-idle
See also: bone idle
English
Alternative forms
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
Audio (AU): (file)
Adjective
bone-idle (not comparable)
- (British, 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
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See also
References
- ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “Bone idle”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 26 February 2017.