Lexicon: I – idly

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I (I'd, I'll, I'm, I've), pron. [OE ic.; first-person singular nominative personal pronoun referring to the speaker; see me, mine, my, myself.] (webplay: arise, closes, coin, delights, ear, extent, fail, feign, field, fine, friend, gift, glory, holy, join, jot, kind, Latin, learned, letter, long, me, meek, oil, opened, organs, pity, seen, seize, self, sound, us, vain, we, writer, yes).

  1. [Refers to a speaker who feels imprisoned.]
  2. [Refers to a bird that is named in the text.]
  3. [Refers to speaker displaying the traits of a blacksmith.]
  4. [Refers to a soldier in a battle, or a contender in a war of words; (see 16 Oct 1859, John Brown at Harper's Ferry).]
  5. [Refers to a flower named in the text.]
  6. [Refers to a boy child or a girl child.]
  7. [Refers to a female spouse.]
  8. [Refers to a speaker described as intoxicated by nature.]
  9. [Specific language suggesting Dickinson herself.]
  10. [Refers to a female taking vows or making a covenant.]
  11. [Refers to a speaker of enormous power and authority, such as a Queen, poet, artist or unspecified monarch.]
  12. [Refers to a gender-neutral observer not named in the text.]
  13. [Refers to a speaker who reflects on the future.]
  14. [Refers to midnight personified; refers to the sunrise as majesty personified.]
  15. [Refers to a girl.]
  16. [Refers to a direct quotation spoken by Jesus Christ.]
  17. [Refers to a speaker from the grave or beyond.]
  18. [Refers to a speaker who is royal or upper class.]
  19. [Refers to a female considering marriage.]
  20. [Refers to a carpenter.]
  21. [Refers to a disciple or follower; (literary) refers to “Little John” in the Robin Hood story; (Biblical) refers to John the Beloved or John the Baptist.]
  22. [Refers to a gender-neutral child not named in the text.]
  23. [Refers to a female observer not named in the text.]
  24. [Refers to three aspects of selfhood in the speaker.]
  25. [Refers to a speaker pondering mortality.]
  26. [Refers to a speaker as male and female.]
  27. [Refers to a person addressing a mountain colored by a sunset or a sunrise.]
  28. [Refers to a loaded gun personified as speaking to its owner.]
  29. [Refers to love personified.]
  30. [Refers to a speaker pondering the next life.]
  31. [Refers to a lost speaker.]
  32. [Refers to the human spirit personified.]
  33. [Refers to a male observer not named in the text.]
  34. [Refers to a person uttering a syllable of faith that saves from despair.]
  35. [Refers to a fly personified.]
  36. [Refers to an aspect of nature, such as the wind or a rain storm.]
  37. [Refers to Thermopylae personified.]
  38. [Refers to a speaker who is volatile or one who lives near a volcano.]

ice (-s), n. [OE ís.] (webplay: cold).

  1. Frozen water; surface of solid cold liquid.
  2. Glacier; snow-pack; [fig.] iron; hard cold metal.
  3. Coldness; frigid temperature; [fig.] reserve; disdain; lack of personal warmth.

icicle (-s), n. [OE isgicel; see ice, n.]

  1. Ice spike; conical ice formation; fringe of frozen ice sticks hanging from the upper edges of a building; [metonymy] winter; [metaphor] sharp obvious grief; evidence of shedding tears.
  2. Chill; cold temperature; sensation of freezing; [fig.] paralysis; loss of sensation; deadening of feeling; [metaphor] hopelessness; numbness of doubt, fear, or grief.

idea, n. [L. idea in Platonic sense < Gk.] (webplay: mind).

Model; visualization; something seen in the mind; [fig.] structure; construct; representation.

ideal (-s), n. [Fr. < L. ideālis.]

  1. Image; standard; pleasing notion; concept of perfection.
  2. Vision; fanciful idea; figment of imagination.

identify (identified), v. [L. indentificāre.] (webplay: enlarged, owner).

  1. Distinguish; discern; regard; consider; recognize.
  2. Discover; find; claim as property.
  3. Be recognizable; [fig.] be remembered.

identity, n. [Fr. identité < L.]

  1. Soul; psyche; self-consciousness; self-awareness; [pejorative] ego; narcissism; selfishness; self-love; self-importance.
  2. Self; individual being; personal existence; unique personhood; essence of being; right to life, liberty, and happiness.
  3. Persona; role; character; similitude; likeness; counterpart; manifestation of what is, what has been, and what will be; [fig.] Dasein; Deity; Being.
  4. Realization; recognition; identification; growing awareness.
  5. Reality; existence; being; [fig.] Creation.
  6. Phrase. “mansion of Identity”: corporeal existence; a physical body; [kenning] divinity; godliness; unique intelligence; spiritual reality.

idle, adj. [OE ídel.] (webplay: away, employed, man).

  1. Unused; not touched.
  2. Motionless; resting; still; inactive; without movement; [fig.] dead; lifeless.
  3. Absent; having no present use.

idleness, n. [OE ídelnes.] (webplay: labor). Inaction; no interaction.

  1. Frivolity; flitting; aimlessness; pointlessness; uselessness; meaningless activity; purposeless movement; erratic waltzing around.
  2. Motionlessness; paralysis; disability; forced inactivity; natural stillness; inability to work; [irony] slothfulness; indolence; procrastination; laziness; aversion to labor; [fig.] death.
  3. Rest; repose; pause; temporary respite.
  4. Relaxation; ease; recreation; diversion; fun pastime.

idly, adv. [see idle, adj.]

Lazily; irresponsibly; haphazardly; in a carefree manner.