Lately, I’ve been thinking about time; how much we have in a day, how fast it passes, and that days never seem to be long enough. In dwelling on time, is it a waste of time? Is productivity only what our hands produce, or does it include, in our perception, what our minds ruminate on? Obviously, the trail led me to idioms about time.
What idioms or phrases do you use to describe your day? I use one phrase about four times a week, as I write it in my journal to describe my day in a nutshell before I go into details: “Hit the Ground Running” (I just write HTGR). I’m grateful for the days I don’t use it… those days are like a secret stash of chocolate to be enjoyed (if you knew my husband, you’d know that’s a matter of self-preservation – but don’t tell him. Hoi, Schätzli). The phrase, etymologically speaking, came into use in the late 19th century, but really, well, hit the ground running during World War 2: It became a popular way of describing deployment from ships or parachuting into combat. Later it moved to a figurative sense; some days, I use it both literally and figuratively.
Here is a collection of idioms about using one’s time. Let me know if you use any of them regularly. If you know of any others, please share it in the comments below!
A day late and a dollar short
Against the clock
A good time
A hard time
A laugh a minute
A matter of time
A mile a minute
A month of Sundays
Around the clock
As honest as the day is long
A whale of a time
Beat the clock
Behind the times
Better late than never
Bide one’s time
By degrees
Call it a day/night
Call time (on something)
Carry the day
Catch someone at a bad time
Clock in, clock out
Crack of dawn
Crunch time
Day in the sun
Day to day
Dog Days
Donkey’s years
Don’t know whether to wind a watch or bark at the moon
Do time
Dwell on the past
Eleventh hour
Feast today, famine tomorrow
Five o’clock shadow
For the time being
From now on
From time to time
Have one’s moments
Have time on one’s side
Here today, gone tomorrow
High time
Hit the big time
Hour of need
In an instant / In the blink of an eye
In the interim
In the long run
In the right (wrong) place at the right (wrong) time
In this day and age
Just in the nick
Kill time
Like clockwork
Like there’s no tomorrow
Long time no see
Make my day
Make time
Not in a million years
No time like the present
No time to lose
Now and then
Now or never
Once in a blue moon
Once upon a time
Only time will tell
Pressed for time
Serve time
Shelf life
Sooner or later
Stand the test of time
Stuck in a time warp
Take one day at a time
The moment of truth
The ship has sailed
The time is ripe
The time of one’s life
Time for a change
Time flies
Time heals all wounds
Time is money
Time is of the essence
Time off for good behaviour
Too much time on one’s hands
Turn back the hands of time
Until hell freezes over
Waste of time
Wasting time
When the moon turns to blood
Year in, year out
Stephanie Huesler 
Wow. I think have them covered. That’s an impressive list. My most common time idiom? So many books, so little time. Off the top, one you missed: On a slow boat to China.
I missed a few by Benjamin Franklin, too – Early to bed, early bird, and all that. 🙂 Your time idiom applies to a lot of areas – so many crafts, so many (good) films, so many books, so many good articles to read… I guess we just need to learn to be specialists. 😉
I’ve used donkey’s years a number of times in the past year. Though I recognize most of the ones on your impressive list, I don’t use time idioms very often. Maybe it’s time I did!
Wow, there are a lot of idioms that have a time component. I’m familiar with almost all of them (and use many of them regularly), but I never would have been able to compile a wonderful list like this.
Nice collection. Fun read.
Maybe you use them more often than you think! 😉
I gleaned from around the web, and from my brain; the combination usually works. 😉
I’ll have to listen to myself more often.