sluggard

[sluhg-erd] /ˈslʌg ərd/
noun
1.
a person who is habitually inactive or lazy.
adjective
2.
lazy; sluggardly.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English slogarde. See slug1, -ard
Examples from the web for sluggard
  • Roman sinews, than is vouchsafed to sluggard nations.
British Dictionary definitions for sluggard

sluggard

/ˈslʌɡəd/
noun
1.
a person who is habitually indolent
adjective
2.
lazy
Derived Forms
sluggardly, adjective
sluggardliness, noun
sluggardness, noun
Word Origin
C14 slogarde; related to slug1
Word Origin and History for sluggard
n.

late 14c., late 13c. as a surname, "habitually lazy person," from Middle English sluggi "sluggish, indolent," probably from a Scandinavian word; cf. dialectal Norwegian slugga "be sluggish," dialectal Norwegian sluggje "heavy, slow person," dialectal Swedish slogga "to be slow or sluggish." Adjective sluggy is attested in English from early 13c.

'Tis the voice of a sluggard -- I heard him complain:
"You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber again."
[Isaac Watts, 1674-1748]



'Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
"You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
["Lewis Carroll" (Charles L. Dodgson), 1832-1898]
As an adjective meaning "sluggish, lazy" from 1590s. Related: Sluggardly.