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

Telemakhos answered: “Lord, son of Atreus, no, you must not keep me. Not that a year with you would be too long: I never could be homesick here—I find your tales and all you say so marvellous. But time hangs heavy on my shipmates’ hands at holy Pylos, if you make me stay.

From Literature

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

From Project Gutenberg

You are longing always for your dead wife and children, and you are often thinking of your youth, and with you the days are long and time hangs heavy.

From Project Gutenberg

You see, time hangs heavy on my hands here.

From Project Gutenberg

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