I had left Ed starting to have nothing to do (4)
I believe the answer is:
idle
'have nothing to do' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'i had left ed starting' is the wordplay.
'i had' becomes 'I'd' (I'd).
'starting' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'left ed' is 'le'.
'id'+'le'='IDLE'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for idle that I've seen before include "staying in bed all day?" , "At rest" , "Not hardworking" , "Avoiding work, lazy" , "Lazy - vain" .)