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# sluggard

noun (a sluggard, sluggards)

«sluggard» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (old, Bible) A sluggard is a very lazy person who does not want to work or get up. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#m1)
2. (humorous) Sluggard can be used jokingly for someone who sleeps late or moves slowly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#m2)

### In the lessons

Pupils meet it in the Bible's Book of Proverbs: «Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise» — the ant works hard and prepares, so we should too. In stories and joking talk, a sluggard lies in bed while others work. Phrases: «go to the ant, thou sluggard».

### Examples

- «Go to the ant, you sluggard,» says the proverb. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x1)
- Get out of bed, you sluggard! (joking) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x2)
- The sluggard's garden was full of weeds. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x3)
- The fable shows the hard-working ant and the sluggard grasshopper. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x4)
- Proverbs warns that the sluggard will go hungry. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x5)
- He was no sluggard; he worked from dawn to dusk. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x6)
- His master one day, pretending to be angry and shaking his stick at him, said, “You wretched little sluggard! what shall I do to you? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/#x7)

### Note

Old-fashioned; today people say «lazybones» or «slacker». Related: «sluggish» (slow, without energy), «slug» (a slow, slimy animal). A sluggard is a person, not an animal.

## In Jewish tradition

A lazy person, whom Proverbs mocks again and again.

**Interpretation.** Proverbs tells the sluggard to learn from the ant and gives his silly excuses, like a lion in the street. Tradition reads these as lessons in diligence and wisdom.

### Examples

- How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? (Writings PRO.6.9, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/sluggard/#x1)
- Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; (Writings PRO.6.6, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/sluggard/#x2)
- The sluggard saith: 'There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets.' (Writings PRO.22.13, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/sluggard/#x3)

### Note

Old-fashioned; today people say «lazybones» or «slacker». Related: «sluggish» (slow, without energy), «slug» (a slow, slimy animal). A sluggard is a person, not an animal.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «sluggard» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sluggard/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«sluggard» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/sluggard.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «sluggard» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/sluggard/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«sluggard» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/sluggard.html) on Mova free.