losing time

Verb

lose time (third-person singular simple present loses time, present participle losing time, simple past and past participle lost time)

1. To run slow and not keep accurate time.

   Antonyms:

   gain time

2. To fall behind schedule.
   • 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

   Antonyms:

   keep time, lose no time

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