Idler?

[Chu]

Me and conquito are having a debate. I used 'idlers' in our scrabble match, which was a HUGE boon for me since it was on a 3x word tile. He says idler is an adj., so idlers should be void. I think it's a noun. Opinions?

 

[Orsorum]

Noun. If you'd said something like "idling", that would be an adjective.

lol Nevermind.

 

[booger711]

conquito is a dumb ass http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=idler

idler

\I"dler\, n. 1. One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction; a lazy person; a sluggard.

2. (Naut.) One who has constant day duties on board ship, and keeps no regular watch. --Totten.

3. (Mach.) An idle wheel or pulley. See under Idle.

 

[fredtam]

adjective = idler pully

 

[Coquito]

Originally posted by: booger711
conquito is a dumb ass http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=idler

idler

\I"dler\, n. 1. One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction; a lazy person; a sluggard.

2. (Naut.) One who has constant day duties on board ship, and keeps no regular watch. --Totten.

3. (Mach.) An idle wheel or pulley. See under Idle.

Don't go around insulting everyone you meet before you even look around a bit.

The whole arguement was whether idlers was a word at all. It wasn't listed in that dictionary, so it probably shouldn't of counted. I have a scrable dictionary here, & the plural form of the word isn't included as well.

 

[booger711]

Originally posted by: Coquito

Originally posted by: booger711
conquito is a dumb ass http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=idler

idler

\I"dler\, n. 1. One who idles; one who spends his time in inaction; a lazy person; a sluggard.

2. (Naut.) One who has constant day duties on board ship, and keeps no regular watch. --Totten.

3. (Mach.) An idle wheel or pulley. See under Idle.

Don't go around insulting everyone you meet before you even look around a bit.

The whole arguement was whether idlers was a word at all. It wasn't listed in that dictionary, so it probably shouldn't of counted. I have a scrable dictionary here, & the plural form of the word isn't included as well.

whoops someones got his panties up in a bunch dont dispute the authority of dictionary.com

 

[Eli]

Wouldn't it be an adjective in the case of "Idler Pulley"?

Pulley is the noun....

 

[Coquito]

It's a noun & an adjective. Idlers however, isn't in the dictionary, so it is probably not the correct way to pluralize it, & hence not valid. That was the whole purpose of the conversation between two people enjoying a game.

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: Coquito
It's a noun & an adjective. Idlers however, isn't in the dictionary, so it is probably not the correct way to pluralize it, & hence not valid. That was the whole purpose of the conversation between two people enjoying a game.

On scrabble.com, it is in the official dictionary:
-----------
IDLER
idler idlers \ n pl. -S one that idles
-----------

 

[Coquito]

Originally posted by: Chu

Originally posted by: Coquito
It's a noun & an adjective. Idlers however, isn't in the dictionary, so it is probably not the correct way to pluralize it, & hence not valid. That was the whole purpose of the conversation between two people enjoying a game.

On scrabble.com, it is in the official dictionary:
-----------
IDLER
idler idlers \ n pl. -S one that idles
-----------

So obviously, I will blame this all on dictionaries not even including it, plus the fact that my scrabble dictionary is dated.

 

[Ikonomi]

Well, just to clear something up, the use of "idler" as a modifier in the phrase "idler pulley" does not make the word an adjective. Nouns can be used to add information to another noun, just like an adjective, but they're just modifying nouns. A modifier doesn't have to be an adjective.

For example, if I can think of any good ones:

family reunion
company bank account
angler fish

Unless, for some weird reason, you're trying to convey that one pulley is more idle than another. Then it's an adjective. "My pulley is idler than yours." Man, I didn't even know that was a word. I always thought it was "more idle".

"You're the idlest bunch of bums I've ever laid eyes on!"

So I guess what I just said is that "idler" can be a noun or an adjective, but it can be a modifier without necessarily being an adjective, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I'm confused now as to whether "idler pulley" is a valid term. Dictionary.com has stuff about an "idle pulley", but it says that "idler" is a shorter term for one of those.