sloth


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Related to sloth: Seven deadly sins

sloth

 (slôth, slŏth, slōth)
n.
1. Aversion to work or exertion; laziness; indolence.
2. Any of various slow-moving, arboreal mammals of the suborder Folivora of South and Central America, having long hooklike claws by which they hang upside down from tree branches, and feeding on leaves, buds, and fruit, especially:
a. A member of the genus Bradypus, having three long-clawed toes on each forefoot. Also called ai, three-toed sloth.
b. A member of the genus Choloepus, having two toes on each forefoot. Also called two-toed sloth, unau.
3. A group of bears.

[Middle English slowth, alteration (influenced by slow, slow) of sleuth, from Old English slǣwth, from slāw, obtuse, torpid, sluggish; see slow. Sense 2, translation of Portuguese preguiça, laziness, sloth (animal of the suborder Folivora).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sloth

(sləʊθ)
n
1. (Animals) any of several shaggy-coated arboreal edentate mammals of the family Bradypodidae, esp Bradypus tridactylus (three-toed sloth or ai) or Choloepus didactylus (two-toed sloth or unau), of Central and South America. They are slow-moving, hanging upside down by their long arms and feeding on vegetation
2. reluctance to work or exert oneself
[Old English slǣwth; from slǣw, variant of slāw slow]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sloth

(slɔθ or, esp. for 2, sloʊθ)

n.
1. indolence; laziness.
2. any slow-moving, arboreal tropical American edentate of the family Bradypodidae, having hooklike claws and usu. hanging upside down.
[1125–75; Middle English slowth; see slow, -th1]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sloth

 of bears: a company of bears—Bk. of St. Albans, 1486.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.sloth - a disinclination to work or exert yourself
disinclination, hesitancy, hesitation, indisposition, reluctance - a certain degree of unwillingness; "a reluctance to commit himself"; "his hesitancy revealed his basic indisposition"; "after some hesitation he agreed"
2.sloth - any of several slow-moving arboreal mammals of South America and Central Americasloth - any of several slow-moving arboreal mammals of South America and Central America; they hang from branches back downward and feed on leaves and fruits
edentate - primitive terrestrial mammal with few if any teeth; of tropical Central America and South America
Bradypodidae, family Bradypodidae - a family of edentates comprising the true sloths
Bradypus tridactylus, three-toed sloth, ai - a sloth that has three long claws on each forefoot and each hindfoot
Choloepus didactylus, two-toed sloth, unai, unau - relatively small fast-moving sloth with two long claws on each front foot
Choloepus hoffmanni, two-toed sloth, unai, unau - a sloth of Central America that has two long claws on each forefoot and three long claws on each hindfoot
3.sloth - apathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins)sloth - apathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins)
deadly sin, mortal sin - an unpardonable sin entailing a total loss of grace; "theologians list seven mortal sins"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

sloth

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

sloth

noun
The quality or state of being lazy:
Informal: do-nothingism.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
lenochodlenost
laiskiainenlaiskuus
lijenost
henyeséglajhárlustaságrestségtunyaság
ナマケモノ
leniveclenoba

sloth

[sləʊθ] N
1. (= idleness) → pereza f, indolencia f
2. (Zool) → oso m perezoso
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sloth

[ˈsləʊθ] n
(= vice) → paresse f
(= animal) → paresseux m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

sloth

n
(= laziness)Trägheit f, → Faulheit f
(Zool) → Faultier nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sloth

[sləʊθ] n
a. (frm) (vice) → indolenza
b. (Zool) → bradipo
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
The creature had exactly the mild but repulsive features of a sloth, the same low forehead and slow gestures.
I think you know it already." Abashed by this question, I replied that sloth was my chief temptation.
Go, haste thee, gentle Mephistophilis, Follow the cardinals to the consistory; And, as they turn their superstitious books, Strike them with sloth and drowsy idleness, And make them sleep so sound, that in their shapes Thyself and I may parley with this Pope, This proud confronter of the Emperor; And, in despite of all his holiness, Restore this Bruno to his liberty, And bear him to the states of Germany.
It ended on the coast of Patagonia, whither we had gone to shoot the great Sloth, known to be the largest of animals, though we found his size to have been under-estimated.
If Buffon had known of the gigantic sloth and armadillo-like animals, and of the lost Pachydermata, he might have said with a greater semblance of truth that the creative force in America had lost its power, rather than that it had never possessed great vigour.
I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight.
By all which, instead of being discouraged, they are fifty times more violently bent upon prosecuting their schemes, driven equally on by hope and despair: that as for himself, being not of an enterprising spirit, he was content to go on in the old forms, to live in the houses his ancestors had built, and act as they did, in every part of life, without innovation: that some few other persons of quality and gentry had done the same, but were looked on with an eye of contempt and ill-will, as enemies to art, ignorant, and ill common-wealth's men, preferring their own ease and sloth before the general improvement of their country."
We have to slay pride in giants, envy by generosity and nobleness of heart, anger by calmness of demeanour and equanimity, gluttony and sloth by the spareness of our diet and the length of our vigils, lust and lewdness by the loyalty we preserve to those whom we have made the mistresses of our thoughts, indolence by traversing the world in all directions seeking opportunities of making ourselves, besides Christians, famous knights.
Instead of improving these gifts, rarely granted so abundantly, this has been your course -- you have given yourself up to sloth and drunkenness, and in a fit of intoxication have ruined your best friend."
Far different from their condition among many rude nations, where the women are made to perform all the work while their ungallant lords and masters lie buried in sloth, the gentle sex in the valley of Typee were exempt from toil, if toil it might be called that, even in the tropical climate, never distilled one drop of perspiration.
Pride, Envy, Sloth and others confessed their sins and received forgiveness.
As to ourselves, we all know the speed produced by the employment of steam; we have experienced it either on railroads, or in boats when crossing the sea; but such a flight is like the travelling of a sloth in comparison with the velocity with which light moves.