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

See Examples For:

time hangs heavy

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 temptation, when time hangs heavy on their hands, to join in billiards, euchre, and tea-parties, keeping the mind unduly excited and leading to late hours, is fatal to every benefit derived from the climate.

From Minnesota; Its Character and Climate Likewise Sketches of Other Resorts Favorable to Invalids; Together With Copious Notes on Health; Also Hints to Tourists and Emigrants. by Ledyard Bill

An occasional caller may come to pay his or her visit; but otherwise the time hangs heavy on her hands.

From Life in an Indian Outpost by Gordon Casserly

He does daily, with punctuality, his Official business; perhaps the best two hours he has of the four-and-twenty, for the time hangs heavy on him.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 10 by Thomas Carlyle

"I have bought all my hats," she replied; "after that a woman's time hangs heavy on her hands."

From The Sentimental Adventures of Jimmy Bulstrode by Marie Van Vorst