sloth

plural sloths · alternative sleuth · alternative sloath · alternative slowth

1. uncountableLaziness; slowness of mind; disinclination to action or labour; a feeling combining indifference and lethargy; a dragging idleness.

   Hot summer days inspire a sense of sloth in me.

   3 more examples

   Who having ſpilt much blood, and don much waſte / Subduing Nations, and achievd thereby / Fame in the World, high titles, and rich prey, / Shall change thir courſe to pleaſure, eaſe, and ſloth, / Surfet, and luſt, till wantonneſs and pride / Raiſe out of friendſhip hoſtil deeds in Peace.

   1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 787–792

   Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears.

   1758, Benjamin Franklin, Preliminary Address to the Pennsylvania Almanac

   Mr. Elliot's frank statement that "sloth and untidiness are indefensible" is a sign that the task will be tackled with vigour.

   1953 April, “Arrears of Station Maintenance”, in Railway Magazine, page 217

   Synonyms: acedia, slothfulness · Antonyms: diligence, liveliness

2. Any animal in the suborder Folivora.
   1. countableespeciallyuncountableAny member of species of the families Choloepodidae and Bradypodidae of herbivorous, arboreal South American mammals, noted for its slowness and inactivity.
   2. countableuncountablebiologyAny of the extinct group of ground sloths.
3. collectivecountablerareA group of bears.

   One day there was a sloth of grizzly bears trying to catch salmon fish from the river

   2014, Stacey Marinaro, The First Unicorn, Lulu.com, page 12

   2 more examples

   "Thirteen!" interrupted Gavan in surprise. "Isn't that a large number for a sloth of bears?" "It certainly is," the hunter answered, "six is as many as I ever saw together. Maybe the tracks looked like a lot more. That happens.

   1919, Francis Rolt-Wheeler, The Boy with the U.S. Trappers, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company, page 266

   Man (head broken off) on horseback, leading three (technically a sloth) muzzled bears by square-linked chain.

   1879, Thomas Tindall Wildridge, The misereres of Beverley minster: a complete series of drawings; with notes on the plates and subject, J Plaxton, page 23

   Synonyms: sleuth

present singular third person sloths · participle present slothing · participle past slothed · past slothed · alternative sleuth · alternative sloath · alternative slowth

1. intransitiveobsoletetransitiveTo be idle; to idle (away time).

   He has been slothing this whole weekend.

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   […] the most of professors are for imbezzeling, mispending and slothing away their time, their talents, their opportunities to do good in […]

   1676, John Bunyan, The Strait Gate, or, Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven, London: Francis Smith, page 69

   That you endeavour carefully to please your Lady, Master or Mistress, be faithful, diligent and submissive to them, encline not to sloth or laze in bed, but rise early in a morning.

   1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 2