bide one's time

1. Wait for the opportune moment, as in The cat sat in front of the mousehole, biding its time. This phrase employs the verb to bide in the sense of “to wait for,” a usage dating from about a.d. 950 and surviving mainly in this locution.

Example Sentences

Her tactics even earned their own verb: “Merkeln,” meaning to dither or bide one’s time.

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Her approach even earned its own verb: “Merkeln,” meaning to dither or bide one’s time.

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Vladimir: One can bide one’s time.

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For years, after its emergence from hard-line Marxism in the late 1980s, China stuck to reformist leader Deng Xiaoping’s dictum to “keep a low profile and bide one’s time, while also getting things done.”

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To stand long before closed doors of opportunity and keep serene; to see work waiting, see others working, and in patience and self-control to bide one's time,—that is more than to do any work; it is to be a man.

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Related Words

• await 
• delay 
• expect 
• hang 
• linger 
• remain 
• stand by 
• stay 
• stick around 
• watch