English

Adjective

lazy ‎(comparative lazier, superlative laziest)

1. Unwilling to do work or make an effort; disinclined to exertion.

   Get out of bed, you lazy lout!‎

   • 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95:

     If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.

2. Causing idleness; relaxed or leisurely.

   I love staying inside and reading on a lazy Sunday.‎

3. Sluggish; slow-moving.

   We strolled along beside a lazy stream.‎

4. Lax:
   1. Droopy.

      a lazy-eared rabbit

   2. (optometry) Of an eye, squinting because of a weakness of the eye muscles.
5. (of a cattle brand) Turned so that (the letter) is horizontal instead of vertical.
6. (computing theory) Employing lazy evaluation; not calculating results until they are immediately required.

   a lazy algorithm‎

7. (Britain, obsolete or dialect) Wicked; vicious.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "lazy" is often applied: person, man, woman, bastard, morning, day, time, way.

Synonyms

• (unwilling to work): bone-idle, idle, indolent, slothful, work-shy
• See also Wikisaurus:lazy

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

lazy ‎(third-person singular simple present lazies, present participle lazying, simple past and past participle lazied)

1. (informal) To laze, act in a lazy manner

References

1. ↑ “lazy” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
2. ↑ “lazy” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.