idle /ˈaɪdəl/ CET4 TEM4 ( idling, idled, idles )

• 1. 

  ADJ If people who were working are idle, they have no jobs or work. 无事可做的 [v-link ADJ]

  例：

  4,000 workers have been idle for 12 of the first 27 weeks of this year.

  4千名工人在今年最初的27个星期中有12个星期无事可干。

• 2. 

  ADJ If machines or factories are idle, they are not working or being used. (机器或工厂) 闲置的 [v-link ADJ]

  例：

  Now the machine is lying idle.

  现在这台机器正处于闲置状态。

• 3. 

  ADJ If you say that someone is idle, you disapprove of them because they are not doing anything and you think they should be. 无所事事的 [表不满]

  例：

  ...idle bureaucrats who spent the day reading newspapers.

  …整天看报纸，无所事事的官僚们。

• 4. 

  idly ADV 无所事事地 [ADV with v]

  例：

  We were not idly sitting around.

  我们并非坐着没事干。

• 5. 

  ADJ Idle is used to describe something that you do for no particular reason, often because you have nothing better to do. 无聊的 [ADJ n]

  例：

  Brian kept up the idle chatter for another five minutes.

  布赖恩又无聊地闲扯了5分钟。

• 6. 

  idly ADV 无聊地

  例：

  We talked idly about magazines and baseball.

  我们闲聊着杂志和棒球。

• 7. 

  ADJ You refer to an idle threat or boast when you do not think the person making it will or can do what they say. 虚张声势的 [ADJ n]

  例：

  It was more of an idle threat than anything.

  那不过是虚张声势的威胁。

• 8. 

  V-I If an engine or vehicle is idling, the engine is running slowly and quietly because it is not in gear, and the vehicle is not moving. (发动机等) 低速空转

  例：

  Beyond a stand of trees a small plane idled.

  在树丛的那一边，一架小飞机的发动机空转着。