tempus fugit
AmericanEtymology
Origin of tempus fugit
First recorded in 1790–1800; a phrase that occurs in Vergil's Georgics, a poem about farming and country life published around 29 b.c.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Little Penny Lumley, a governess! Tempus fugit,” she said, and shook her head in wonder.
From Literature
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But consider: If even in our own uncomfortably modern times, there are ideas and feelings that are perfectly expressed in no other way but Latin—“tempus fugit,” for example, or “alma mater,” or “Et tu, Brute?”
From Literature
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She knew the Latin phrase “tempus fugit,” which means “time flies,” like a bird—but there were flightless birds, after all: ostriches and emus and dodos and so on.
From Literature
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But tempus fugit, as the chiming of the library clock made clear, and since Edward Ashton had left, the time had flown faster than a keen-eyed peregrine falcon swooping earthward for its prey.
From Literature
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John Troia, a founder of Tempus Fugit Spirits, a California distiller that makes a crème de menthe and a crème de cacao that are popular with craft cocktail bars, said the company has seen a 40 percent increase in crème de menthe sales since Covid arrived.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.