keep time

1. Maintain the correct tempo and rhythm of music; also, mark the rhythm by foot-tapping, hand movements, or the like. For example, The children love to keep time by clapping their hands . This usage dates from the late 1500s and is occasionally put figuratively, as Ben Jonson did in Cynthia's Revels (1699): “Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears.”

2. Also, keep good time . Indicate the correct time, as in This inexpensive watch does not keep good time . [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

But so much of “Brazil” is recognizable as features of our world: its malfunctioning robotic technologies —alarm clocks that don’t keep time, automated coffee brewers that soak breakfast toast into mush, elevators that stop between floors, tram doors that close on people trying to exit, etc., etc.

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“As more viewers convert to its ad tier, the challenge will be to keep time spent high in the face of advertising worsening the user experience,” Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes said in a statement.

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“I’d like to be able to keep time as well as your clocks and watches do — and I’m supposed to be a fair drummer,” wrote Gene Krupa, the legendary jazz drummer, in the signature book.

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“All of this happens, obviously, very fast,” said Alain Zobrist of Omega, the Swiss company contracted to keep time at the Games.

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Climate change is affecting the speed of the Earth's rotation and could impact how we keep time, a study says.

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