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Synonyms for mark time


Grammar : Verb
Spell : tahym
Phonetic Transcription : taɪm



Définition of mark time

Origin :
  • Old English tima "limited space of time," from Proto-Germanic *timon "time" (cf. Old Norse timi "time, proper time," Swedish timme "an hour"), from PIE *di-mon-, from root *da- "cut up, divide" (see tide).
  • Abstract sense of "time as an indefinite continuous duration" is recorded from late 14c. Personified since at least 1509 as an aged bald man (but with a forelock) carrying a scythe and an hour-glass. In English, a single word encompasses time as "extent" and "point" (French temps/fois, German zeit/mal) as well as "hour" (e.g. "what time is it?" cf. French heure, German Uhr). Extended senses such as "occasion," "the right time," "leisure," or times (v.) "multiplied by" developed in Old and Middle English, probably as a natural outgrowth of phrases like, "He commends her a hundred times to God" (Old French La comande a Deu cent foiz).
  • to have a good time ( = a time of enjoyment) was common in Eng. from c 1520 to c 1688; it was app. retained in America, whence readopted in Britain in 19th c. [OED]
  • Time of day (now mainly preserved in negation, i.e. what someone won't give you if he doesn't like you) was a popular 17c. salutation (e.g. "Good time of day vnto your Royall Grace," "Richard III," I.iii.18). Times as the name of a newspaper dates from 1788. Time warp first attested 1954; time capsule first recorded 1938, in reference to New York World's Fair; time-traveling in the science fiction sense first recorded 1895 in H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine." To do time "serve a prison sentence" is from 1865. Time frame is attested by 1964; time line (also timeline) by 1890; time-limit is from 1880. About time, ironically for "long past due time," is recorded from 1920. Behind the times "old-fashioned" is recorded from 1846, first attested in Dickens.
  • verb wait around
Example sentences :
  • While my Party is out of power, there is nothing left for us but to mark time.
  • Extract from : « Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo » by E. Phillips Oppenheim
  • Make rattles of something which you can find, and show how to mark time with them.
  • Extract from : « The Later Cave-Men » by Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
  • Sir Moses and Cuddy Flintoff mounting their chairs to mark time.
  • Extract from : « Ask Momma » by R. S. Surtees
  • Bring guns to position and mark time as if marching rapidly.
  • Extract from : « Lincoln Day Entertainments » by Various
  • My stuffy fruitless trip had decided me to mark time no longer.
  • Extract from : « The Book of Susan » by Lee Wilson Dodd
  • He would not or could not keep step in the ranks, nor mark time.
  • Extract from : « Si Klegg, Book 4 (of 6) » by John McElroy
  • Black meanwhile could really do nothing but mark time with one of his Rooks.
  • Extract from : « Chess Fundamentals » by Jos Ral Capablanca
  • If at half step or mark time while obliquing, Oblique, March.
  • Extract from : « Military Instructors Manual » by James P. Cole and Oliver Schoonmaker
  • The dial on the machine must mark time with the clock on the wall.
  • Extract from : « The Ruling Passion » by Henry van Dyke
  • As the singing proceeds they mark time with their hands and feet.
  • Extract from : « Our Holidays » by Various

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019