bone-idle

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bone-idle

Where it comes from

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. Compare to the bone.

adjective bone idle

Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, not comparable Utterly lazy. For the last three weeks I have been going what you call bone-idle.
Similar: lither, swear, bone-idle, fainéant, idle, indolent, inert, lackadaisical, lazy, otiose, slothful, sluggish

Translations

Every language

adj utterly lazy

Français	fainéant, cossard, flemmard, glandouilleur, oisif

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MLA

"bone-idle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bone-idle. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

bone-idle. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bone-idle

Chicago

"bone-idle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bone-idle.

BibTeX

@misc{bone_idle_2026,
  title = {bone-idle},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bone-idle},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}