47 PHRASE If you are playing, singing, or dancing in time with a piece of music, you are following the rhythm and speed of the music correctly. If you are out of time with it, you are not following the rhythm and speed of the music correctly. □ [+ with ] Her body swayed in time with the music. □ We were standing onstage playing completely out of time.
48 PHRASE If you say that something will happen, for example, in a week 's time or in two years ' time , you mean that it will happen a week from now or two years from now. □ Presidential elections are due to be held in ten days' time.
49 PHRASE If you arrive somewhere in good time , you arrive early so that there is time to spare before a particular event. □ [+ for ] If we're out, we always make sure we're home in good time for the programme.
50 PHRASE If you tell someone that something will happen in good time or all in good time , you are telling them to be patient because it will happen eventually. □ There will be exercises that you can't do at first. You will get to them in good time.
51 PHRASE If something happens in no time or in next to no time , it happens almost immediately or very quickly. □ He expects to be out of prison in next to no time.
52 PHRASE If you do something in your own time , you do it at the speed that you choose, rather than allowing anyone to hurry you. □ Now, in your own time, tell me what happened.
53 PHRASE If you do something such as work in your own time in British English, or on your own time in American English, you do it in your free time rather than, for example, at work or school. □ If I choose to work on other projects in my own time, then I say that is my business.
54 PHRASE If you keep time when playing or singing music, you follow or play the beat, without going too fast or too slowly. □ As he sang, he kept time on a small drum.
55 PHRASE When you talk about how well a watch or clock keeps time , you are talking about how accurately it measures time. □ Some pulsars keep time better than the Earth's most accurate clocks.
56 PHRASE If you make time for a particular activity or person, you arrange to have some free time so that you can do the activity or spend time with the person. □ [+ for ] Before leaving the city, be sure to make time for a shopping trip.
57 PHRASE If you say that you made good time on a journey, you mean it did not take you very long compared to the length of time you expected it to take. □ They had left early in the morning, on quiet roads, and made good time.
58 PHRASE If someone is making up for lost time , they are doing something actively and with enthusiasm because they have not had the opportunity to do it before or when they were younger. □ Older than most officers of his rank, he was determined to make up for lost time.
59 PHRASE If you are marking time , you are doing something that is not particularly useful or interesting while you wait for something more important or interesting to happen. □ He's really just marking time until he's old enough to leave.
60 PHRASE If you say that something happens or is the case nine times out of ten or ninety-nine times out of a hundred , you mean that it happens on nearly every occasion or is almost always the case. □ When they want something, nine times out of ten they get it.
61 PHRASE If you say that someone or something is, for example, the best writer of all time , or the most successful film of all time , you mean that they are the best or most successful that there has ever been. □ 'Monopoly' is one of the best-selling games of all time.
62 PHRASE If you are on time , you are not late. □ Don't worry, she'll be on time.
63 PHRASE If you say that it is only a matter of time or only a question of time before something happens, you mean that it cannot be avoided and will definitely happen at some future date. □ It now seems only a matter of time before they resign.
64 PHRASE When you refer to our time or our times you are referring to the present period in the history of the world. □ It would be wrong to say that the Church doesn't enter the great moral debates of our time.
65 PHRASE If you do something to pass the time you do it because you have some time available and not because you really want to do it. □ Without particular interest and just to pass the time, I read a story.
66 PHRASE If you play for time , you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need time to think about what to do if it happens. □ The president's decision is being seen as an attempt to play for time.
67 PHRASE If you say that something will take time , you mean that it will take a long time. □ Change will come, but it will take time.
68 PHRASE If you take your time doing something, you do it quite slowly and do not hurry. □ 'Take your time,' Cross told him. 'I'm in no hurry.'
69 PHRASE If a child can tell the time , they are able to find out what the time is by looking at a clock or watch. □ My four-year-old daughter cannot quite tell the time.
70 PHRASE If something happens time after time , it happens in a similar way on many occasions. □ Burns had escaped from jail time after time.
71 PHRASE If you say that time flies , you mean that it seems to pass very quickly. □ Time flies when you're having fun.
72 PHRASE If you have the time of your life , you enjoy yourself very much indeed. □ We're taking our little grandchild away with us. We'll make sure he has the time of his life.
73 PHRASE If you say there is no time to lose or no time to be lost , you mean you must hurry as fast as you can to do something. □ He rushed home, realising there was no time to lose.