tempus fugit

[tem-poos foo-git, tem-puhs fyoo-jit]

Latin.

1. time flies.

tempus fugit

/ ˈtɛmpəs ˈfjuːdʒɪt, -ɡɪt /

1. time flies

Word History and Origins

Origin of tempus fugit¹

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

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.

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“Little Penny Lumley, a governess! Tempus fugit,” she said, and shook her head in wonder.

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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.

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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?”

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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.

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