otiant

English

Etymology

From Latin ōtior (“be at ease, enjoy leisure”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊ.ʃi.ənt/

Adjective

otiant (comparative more otiant, superlative most otiant)

1. (rare) At ease, at leisure; idling, indolent.
   • 1878, Jared Sparks, James Russell Lowell, Edward Everett, Henry Cabot Lodge, The North American Review, page 483:

     They […] who relegate the Supreme to the otiant ease of Epicurus, cut the nerves of moral obligation.

   • 1940, Thornwell Jacobs, Red Lanterns on St. Michael's, page 152:

     "You will see a new kind of country, soft of voice, otiant of manner, dressed in purple, and gray and blue. When you see you will think of the dateless leisure of Olympus. You will contrast it sharply with the Piedmont. One look at these gnarled old oaks and red-blooded hills […]

2. (obsolete, linguistics, especially of Semitic languages) Having no force or sound, like the l in would.

   Coordinate terms: quiescent, silent

   • 1855, David Tappan Stoddard, B. L. Hamlen, Grammar of the Modern Syriac Language, page 19:

     Some letters are otiant in Modern Syriac, being generally, if not always, those retained for the sake of etymology, […]