time hangs heavy

Idioms  

1. Also, time hangs heavy on one's hands. Time passes slowly, as in She adjusted quite well to the nursing home, except that she says time hangs heavy on her hands. This metaphoric term, first recorded in the late 1760s, likens the passage of time to a burdensome weight.

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Example Sentences

This thankless task is attended to by sports writers on whose hands time hangs heavy when the football season is over.

From Time Magazine Archive

The time hangs heavy with us; let us build a temple here to the living God, and to the honor of his Son.

From Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Ten Christmas stories by Hale, Edward E.

I think, Colonel Wragge," replied John Silence impressively, "that we shall none of us find the time hangs heavy.

From Three John Silence Stories by Blackwood, Algernon

When time hangs heavy in the hall, and the snow lies deep at Christmas tide, when we can neither hunt nor joust, who will sing the carols, and sweep away the stake at bowls?

From The Prose Marmion A Tale of the Scottish Border by Jenkins, Sara D.

Unfortunately next day our expedition to the mountain is spoilt by torrents of rain which stream down unceasingly, and time hangs heavy on our hands.

From Round the Wonderful World by Forrest, A. S. (Archibald Stevenson)