layabout

[ ley-uh-bout ]

noun

, Chiefly British.

1. a lazy or idle person; loafer.

layabout

/ ˈleɪəˌbaʊt /

noun

1. a lazy person; loafer

verb

1. old-fashioned.
   preposition, usually intr or reflexive to hit out with violent and repeated blows in all directions

Word History and Origins

Origin of layabout¹

1930–35; noun use of verb phrase lay about, nonstandard variant of lie about

Example Sentences

Katie sees Rachel as little more than a useless layabout waiting to claim the apartment, even though Rachel had been the live-in caregiver before things turned.

From Los Angeles Times

This is a grim continuum on which to exist, skating between the poles of high-achieving hustler and dissolute layabout.

From New York Times

Dino is an Italian layabout who dawdles through life on a steady cash drip from his wealthy mother.

From New York Times

To the many reversals of Coen character types in this season of “Fargo” — Dot as a lethally capable Jean Lundegaard from the movie, Roy as a malevolent Ed Tom Bell from “No Country for Old Men” — let’s add one more: Lars Olmstead, the layabout husband of Indira Olmstead, this season’s indebted, nonpregnant spin on Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson.

From New York Times

“And the same guy played Sonic in both shows,” Scott Pilgrim, the doofy 23-year-old layabout of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” shares, unprompted, to his love interest, Ramona Flowers.

From New York Times