mark time

1. Wait idly for something to occur, as in We were just marking time until we received our instructions. This idiom alludes to the literal meaning of marching in place to the time, or beat, of music. [Early 1800s]

Example Sentences

But I find that once you put a number down on paper, you can mark time against it.

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Trees can spark memories, mark time and give us a comforting place to return to.

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Trees, it turns out, can spark memories, mark time and give us a comforting place to return to.

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Rcd1 Rea8, doubling rooks on a closed file, is a bit of a tell that he can only mark time as White dictates the play.

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Mendes pays homage to the films of his youth by way of the films that play as a way to mark time: “Stir Crazy” here, “Raging Bull” there; but his ode to the medium he loves goes even deeper, not just to its power to generate empathy, but to its pluralism.

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