have a good time
Save This Word!
Enjoy oneself, as in I hope you have a good time at the beach. This idiom, also used as an imperative, dates from 16th-century England, where it was popular until the late 1600s and died out. Samuel Pepys, in a diary entry of March 1, 1666, wrote, “I went and had as good a time as heart could wish.” In America it continued to be used, and in the 1800s it reappeared in British speech as well. Also see hard time; show one a good time.
QUIZ
QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!
Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.
Question 1 of 7
“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.
Words nearby have a good time
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.