All 9 Uses of
indolent
in
Moby Dick
- Indolence and idleness perished before him.
Chpt 16-18 *indolence = laziness
- The tranced ship indolently rolls; the drowsy trade winds blow; everything resolves you into languor.†
Chpt 34-36indolently = lazily
- Besides he all the time looked so easy and indolent himself, so loungingly managed his steering-oar, and so broadly gaped—open-mouthed at times—that the mere sight of such a yawning commander, by sheer force of contrast, acted like a charm upon the crew.†
Chpt 46-48indolent = lazy
- Like Mark Antony, for days and days along his green-turfed, flowery Nile, he indolently floats, openly toying with his red-cheeked Cleopatra, ripening his apricot thigh upon the sunny deck.†
Chpt 52-54indolently = lazily
- The waves, too, nodded their indolent crests; and across the wide trance of the sea, east nodded to west, and the sun over all.†
Chpt 61-63indolent = lazy
- It is very curious to watch this harem and its lord in their indolent ramblings.†
Chpt 88-90
- the ship under indolent sail, and gliding so serenely along;†
Chpt 94-96
- So, in good time my Queequeg gained strength; and at length after sitting on the windlass for a few indolent days (but eating with a vigorous appetite) he suddenly leaped to his feet, threw out his arms and legs, gave himself a good stretching, yawned a little bit, and then springing into the head of his hoisted boat, and poising a harpoon, pronounced himself fit for a fight.†
Chpt 109-111
- For not by any calm and indolent spoutings; not by the peaceable gush of that mystic fountain in his head, did the White Whale now reveal his vicinity; but by the far more wondrous phenomenon of breaching.†
Chpt 133-135
Definitions:
-
(1)
(indolent as in: she is naturally indolent) lazy; disinclined to work
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Indolent is also used in medicine to describe conditions (e.g., some tumors) that are slow to develop or heal and are painless. Very rarely it may refer to something that is slow and unenergetic without any connotation of laziness--such as small lapping waves.