Dictionary

lose time en · VERB

Meanings

1. (of a clock) To run slow and not keep accurate time.
2. (of a person etc.) To fall behind schedule.
   • At Par, 150207 is the unit for the 1416 to Newquay. It is quite tatty and lacks tables - but does have plug sockets. It sounds laboured as it leaves, and while it sounds like it's struggling as it tackles Luxulyan, it's not losing time. 2026 January 7, 'Mystery Shopper', “Cornish cream - without the jams?”, in RAIL, number 1052, page 48:
   • On the third day the train lost time more and more. She raged with painful impatience. No good, at every station the train sat longer. 1925, DH Lawrence, “The Willful Woman”, in St. Mawr and Other Stories, page 1:
   • There are the engines that develop ill-health and begin to lose time, or the wagons that develop hot boxes and have to be removed, initiating delays that steadily pile up—or at worst, the weather lays its hand on the whole District. 1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 131/132:
3. To waste time.
   • Possibly I might be blamed a bit for my truantry, but the recapture of the Hispaniola was a clenching answer, and I hoped that even Captain Smollett would confess I had not lost my time. 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
   • Well, tomorrow can wait, losing time in this place Till the sun is awake, be like a magnet on me 2025 April 4, Ed Sheeran, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Johnny McDaid, Savan Kotecha, “Azizam”, in Play, performed by Ed Sheeran:

Forms

Antonyms

gain time · lose no time · keep time

Translations (12)

es perder tiempo (of a person etc.: to fall behind schedule) · pl stracić czas (to waste time) · pl tracić czas (to waste time) · fi jätättää (of a clock: to go slow and not keep accurate time) · fi jäädä jälkeen (of a person etc.: to fall behind schedule) · pl tracić czas (of a clock: to go slow and not keep accurate time) · fi myöhästyä (of a person etc.: to fall behind schedule) · pl bałwanić się (to waste time) · pl stracić czas (of a clock: to go slow and not keep accurate time) · gl perder tempo (of a person etc.: to fall behind schedule) · pl tracić czas (of a person etc.: to fall behind schedule) · pl stracić czas (of a person etc.: to fall behind schedule)