Parkinson's law
or Parkinson's Law
noun
the statement, expressed facetiously as if a law of physics, that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
Origin of Parkinson's law
First recorded in 1950–55; after C. N. Parkinson
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British Dictionary definitions for parkinson's law
Parkinson's law
noun
the notion, expressed facetiously as a law of economics, that work expands to fill the time available for its completion
Word Origin for Parkinson's law
C20: named after C. N. Parkinson (1909–93), British historian and writer, who formulated it
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Culture definitions for parkinson's law
Parkinson's Law
A law propounded by the twentieth-century British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson. It states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.