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• Time and tide wait for no man
  Time and tide wait for no man

  The processes of nature continue, no matter how much we might like them to stop. The word tide meant “time” when this proverb was created, so it may have been the alliteration of the words that first appealed to people. Now the word tide in this proverb is usually thought of in terms of the sea, which certainly does not wait for anyone.
• time and tide wait for no man
  time and tide wait for no man

  One must not procrastinate or delay, as in Let's get on with the voting; time and tide won't wait, you know. This proverbial phrase, alluding to the fact that human events or concerns cannot stop the passage of time or the movement of the tides, first appeared about 1395 in Chaucer's Prologue to the Clerk's Tale. The alliterative beginning, time and tide, was repeated in various contexts over the years but today survives only in the proverb, which is often shortened (as above).

Time and tide wait for no man

Cultural  

1. The processes of nature continue, no matter how much we might like them to stop. The word tide meant “time” when this proverb was created, so it may have been the alliteration of the words that first appealed to people. Now the word tide in this proverb is usually thought of in terms of the sea, which certainly does not wait for anyone.

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time and tide wait for no man Idioms  

1. One must not procrastinate or delay, as in Let's get on with the voting; time and tide won't wait, you know. This proverbial phrase, alluding to the fact that human events or concerns cannot stop the passage of time or the movement of the tides, first appeared about 1395 in Chaucer's Prologue to the Clerk's Tale. The alliterative beginning, time and tide, was repeated in various contexts over the years but today survives only in the proverb, which is often shortened (as above).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Time and tide wait for no man time and tide wait for no man

Time and tide wait for no man, the saying goes.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 30, 2015

But it is not necessary to use a point in such a sentence as this: "Time and tide wait for no man."

From "Stops", Or How to Punctuate A Practical Handbook for Writers and Students by Allardyce, Paul

"Time and tide wait for no man," says the captain.

From The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 4 by Poe, Edgar Allan

See Our New Line of Coffins Lined Caskets a Specialty Lodge Work Solicited Time and tide wait for no man, and his days are few and full of troubles.

From Danny's Own Story by Marquis, Don

Time and tide wait for no man, and, Hun submarines or not, mines or no mines, fog or no fog, merchant vessels must run.

From Stand By! Naval Sketches and Stories by Dorling, H. Taprell (Henry Taprell)

Chaucer wrote that time and tide wait for no man.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2022

If, as we have elsewhere observed in this narrative, time and tide wait for no man, it is not less true that time and tide work wonderful changes in man and his affairs and fortunes.

From The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

But time and tide wait for no man, and the “New Times” coach is equally impatient of delay.

From The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries To-Day and in Days of Old by Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)

"Come, come, master, let us get afloat," said one of them, in a rough impressive whisper, "time and tide wait for no man."

From The Fortunes of Nigel by Scott, Walter, Sir

But time and tide wait for no man.

From The Argosy Vol. 51, No. 6, June, 1891 by Wood, Charles W.