idling

Verb

idle (third-person singular simple present idles, present participle idling, simple past and past participle idled)

1. (transitive) To spend (time) in idleness; to waste; to consume.
   • […] the ne'er-do-anything-at-home who idled his day in immaculate attire and who was banished to Canada on a "remittance," shares his pork and beans with the sourdough, who has scratched rocks and sifted black sand from his infancy.1912, Frederick Arthur Talbot, Making Good in Canada, page 81
2. (intransitive) To lose or spend time doing nothing, or without being employed in business.
   • to idle in an IRC channel
3. (intransitive) Of an engine: to run at a slow speed, or out of gear; to tick over.
   • When train heating is in operation the diesel engine is arranged to idle at 550 r.p.m. which is the minimum at which the generator will deliver its full rated output.1960 April, “Type "3" Diesel-Electric Locomotives for the Southern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 246
4. (transitive) To cause (an engine) to idle (run at a slow speed, or out of gear).
   • The driver idled his engine until the car finally stalled.
5. (transitive) To make (workers, students, etc) idle; to leave without work.
   • [L]ayoffs idled 1,900 workers in Ohio and 1,000 in Indiana. At the same time, an Indiana assembly plant recalled 1,200 workers.1955, United States Bureau of Employment Security, Unemployment Insurance Claims, volumes 11-12, page 14

See all 18 meanings of idle