Lay off (4 letters)

{ Answer }

IDLE

{ Related Clues }

Fainéant
Groundless
Inactive
Laze
Lazy
At liberty
Loafing
Unemployed
Unoccupied
Waiting
Between assignments
Between engagements
Doing nothing
Leave in neutral
Not busy
Not in use
Not working
"As ___ as a painted ship . . . "
Run in place
Barely run, as an engine
Run while standing still

{ Tags }

doing, groundless, idle, inactive, kind, like, loafing, neutral, not, nothing, off, otiose, out, pointless, run, some, twiddling, unemployed, use, work, working

{ Notes }

The answer IDLE is very common and appears about once every 38.3 puzzles.

{ Definition }

IDLE as a noun:

1. the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling; "the car engine was running at idle"

IDLE as a verb:

1. (idle, tick over) = run disconnected or idle; "the engine is idling"

2. (idle, laze, slug, stagnate) = be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "The old man sat and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all morning"

IDLE as an adjective:

1. not in action or at work; "an idle laborer"; "idle drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind"

2. (baseless, groundless, idle, unfounded, unwarranted, wild) = without a basis in reason or fact; "baseless gossip"; "the allegations proved groundless"; "idle fears"; "unfounded suspicions"; "unwarranted jealousy"

3. (idle, unused) = not in active use; "the machinery sat idle during the strike"; "idle hands"

4. (idle, light) = silly or trivial; "idle pleasure"; "light banter"; "light idle chatter"

5. (idle, loose) = lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; "idle talk"; "a loose tongue"

6. (dead, idle) = not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds"

7. (idle, jobless, out of work) = not having a job; "idle carpenters"; "jobless transients"; "many people in the area were out of work"