Bone-idle

Alternative forms

• bone idle

Origin

Laziness that penetrates the very bones. Attested 1836.

Phrase Finder|bone-idle|Bone idle

Similar terms (bone-lazy, bone-sore, bone-tired) pre-dated it in The Vocabulary Of East Anglia, 1830, Robert Forby.

Full definition of bone-idle

Adjective

1. (British, idiomatic) utterly lazy
• 1836, Thomas Carlyle, New Letters:For the last three weeks I have been going what you call bone-idle.