Revised as of
13 Jan 2023
I may idle about, and I may long for a moment to idle in my version of an idyll, but I’m not about to worship an idle. How does one worship a verb or adjective?
Unfortunately, I’m not an idol either. Sigh . . . I always wanted to be a goddess . . . *grin* . . . that or laze away the afternoon in a hammock, a glass of lemonade by my side, and a good book. That would be an idyll . . . sigh . . .
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Idle | Idol | Idyll |
|---|---|---|
_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Portrait of an Idle Woman by Daniel Hernández Morillo (Salcabamba, 1856 – Lima, 1932) a Peruvian painter whose work is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Durga Idol Naktala Udayan Sangha is TechnoAyan’s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Girl Reading in Hammock by Clifton Chu is under the CC0 license, via Pixy. — The peace of reading while in a hammock would be such an idyll. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: idles |
Noun
Plural: idols |
Noun
Plural: idylls |
| Adjective: [Especially of a machine or factory] Not active or in use
Without purpose or effect
Verb, intransitive:
Verb, transitive:
|
An image or representation of a god used as an object of worship
|
An extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque episode or scene, typically an idealized or unsustainable one
Material suitable for such a work An episode or scene of idyllic charm A brief or inconsequential romantic affair [Music] A composition, usually instrumental, of a pastoral or sentimental character |
| Examples: | ||
| Adjective: There are assembly lines standing idle for lack of spare parts. He’s an idler. At no time in the day must there be an idle moment. Uncle Henry hates for his money to lie idle. He did not want to waste valuable time in idle chatter. I knew Ellen did not make idle threats. Verb, intransitive: Cal idled past MetroHealth at a stately pace. The car is noisily idling in the street. Verb, transitive: He will close the newspaper, idling 2,200 workers. The strike idled many workers. |
It’s in the first commandment demanding that you not worship false idols.
Robert Redford is one of her movie idols. ABC’s American Idol auditions to take place in 19 cities across America. Many religions use idols as part of their beliefs. |
The rural idyll remains strongly evocative in most industrialized societies.
It was a brief idyll between the two before they came to their senses. “The Rambagh seems to effortlessly have the sense of a refuge and idyll that luxury hotels the world over try so hard to conjure” (Living). Theocritus wrote short pastoral poems, The Idylls. Various poets wrote of idylls, including Siegfried Sassoon; English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson; and, Nietzsche. The concept of Arcadia with its “noble savage” is a pastoral idyll. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: idler, idlest Noun: idling |
Adjective: idol-worshipping, idolatrous Noun: idolater, idolatry, idolatries, idolization, idolizer Verb: idolize |
Adjective: idyllic Adverb: idyllically |
| Phrasal Verb | ||
| idle something away | ||
| History of the Word: | ||
| Old English īdel meaning empty, useless and related to the Dutch ijdel meaning vain, frivolous, or useless and the German eitel meaning bare, worthless. | Middle English from the Old French idole, which is from the Latin idolum meaning image or form (used in the ecclesiastical Latin sense of idol), from the Greek eidōlon, from eidos meaning form or shape. | Late 16th century (in the Latin form), from the Latin idyllium, which is from the Greek eidullion, a diminutive of eidos meaning form, picture. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Idle vs Idol vs Idyll
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: idyll
“Living Like a Maharajah.” Daily Beast Promotions. 21 Jan 2010. Web. n.d. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/living-like-a-maharajah?source=dictionary>.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Autumn Leaves (<https://visualhunt.com/photo/223055/>) by Mister-Mastro and Drowsy Cat (<https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/8603422651/1c588cd309/>) by Elsie esq. are under the CC BY 2.0 license while Guanyin (<https://visualhunt.com/photo/95752/>) by jsbaw, <https://visualhunt.com/p/jsbaw/>, is under the CC0. All three are via VisualHunt.
