To me they come off like extended skits that wear out their welcome long before the halfway mark.
Not a raid, authorities say, but a pressure tactic, as police look to wear out a man they want to capture alive.
This rebellion is less a sprint than a marathon, with each side attempting to wear out its opponent in a contest of endurance.
But twas right not to stay long enough to wear out your welcome.
His oft quoted maxim was, "It is better to wear out than to rust out."
“It is better to wear out than rust out,” said Bishop Cumberland.
Their historians said that toil did not wear out his body or exhaust his energy.
He got his abandoned gun and went hunting to wear out his wrath.
Sutherland's style was that of a gentleman who must wear out his dress-coat.
I was disposed to tantalize my pursuer, and wear out his men.
"action of wearing" (clothes), mid-15c., from wear (v.). Meaning "what one wears" is 1570s. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s, implying the sense "process of being degraded by use."
Old English werian "to clothe, put on," from Proto-Germanic *wazjanan (cf. Old Norse verja, Old High German werian, Gothic gawasjan "to clothe"), from PIE *wes- "to clothe" (cf. Sanskrit vaste "he puts on," vasanam "garment;" Avestan vah-; Greek esthes "clothing," hennymi "to clothe," eima "garment;" Latin vestire "to clothe;" Welsh gwisgo, Breton gwiska; Old English wæstling "sheet, blanket;" Hittite washshush "garments," washanzi "they dress").
The Germanic forms "were homonyms of the vb. for 'prevent, ward off, protect' (Goth. warjan, O.E. werian, etc.), and this was prob. a factor in their early displacement in most of the Gmc. languages" [Buck]. Shifted from a weak verb (past tense and past participle wered) to a strong one (past tense wore, past participle worn) in 14c. on analogy of rhyming strong verbs such as bear and tear.
Secondary sense of "use up, gradually damage" (late 13c.) is from effect of continued use on clothes. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s.