Synonyms for kill time


Grammar : Verb
Spell : tahym
Phonetic Transcription : taɪm


Définition of kill 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 waste time
Example sentences :
  • To avoid them, I remained inside my room, and endeavoured to kill time by reading.
  • Extract from : « The Quadroon » by Mayne Reid
  • The chairman had been doing his best to kill time but had run out of ammunition.
  • Extract from : « Eben Holden » by Irving Bacheller
  • He freshly and cheerfully asked him how a man should kill time.
  • Extract from : « Familiar Quotations » by John Bartlett
  • This man could not have known that Daisy was in church, and may have just gone there to kill time.
  • Extract from : « A Coin of Edward VII » by Fergus Hume
  • Leaving the office, they strolled about in order to kill time.
  • Extract from : « Under the Rebel's Reign » by Charles Neufeld
  • As if to kill time, he repeatedly rises, and again reseats himself.
  • Extract from : « The Wild Huntress » by Mayne Reid
  • So I fear that for a year at least you will bide at Josselin and we at Ploermel, and kill time as we may.
  • Extract from : « Sir Nigel » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • She realized that she must kill time, and she did so by a hundred ingenious devices.
  • Extract from : « Brittany » by Mortimer Menpes and Dorothy Menpes
  • Well, I shall have one thing at least to kill time with in the meanwhile.
  • Extract from : « Hedda Gabler » by Henrik Ibsen
  • Put shortly, his object in life was to kill time, to avoid boredom.
  • Extract from : « Lady Lilith » by Stephen McKenna

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