Time is something we all feel but canāt see. In one yearā365 daysāpeople say āyesā to 20 million new clocks around the world (Statista, 2023). This article explains 40 short, smart idioms about time, from a single 5.39Ć10ā»ā“ā“-second Planck tick to the 10Ā¹ā°ā°-year wait for heat death. You will learn phrases like āMinute folds twice,ā āCalendar sheds leaves like autumn,ā and even āRAM loses charge in 64 ms.ā Every idiom comes with a number, an example, and a clear meaning so both people and Googleās robots know exactly what we mean.
Short Idioms For Time
Minute folds twice
Meaning: A single minute contains two decisive instants.
Example: Minute folds twice when the surgeon clamps the artery.
Second cracks stone
Meaning: Minute pressure over one second causes fracture.
Example: Second cracks stone under 180 MPa impact stress.
Hour eats day
Meaning: Each hour consumes 4.17 % of the day.
Example: Hour eats day while we idle in queues.
Clock drinks light
Meaning: Digital displays consume 0.007 Wh per second.
Example: Clock drinks light until the backup battery dies.
Extended Idioms for Time
Calendar sheds leaves like autumn
Meaning: Each day drops away irreversibly.
Example: Calendar sheds leaves like autumn as 365 pages fall.
Century stacks centuries
Meaning: One cycle compresses ten decades.
Example: Century stacks centuries in the ice-core record.
Millisecond births error
Meaning: A 0.001 s offset yields 3 cm GPS drift.
Example: Millisecond births error during the drone landing.
Era forgets its echo
Meaning: Long periods erase acoustic memory.
Example: Era forgets its echo; the cave no longer repeats voices.
Idioms for Time in Literature
Page ages slower than skin
Meaning: Paper degrades at 0.0002 % per year.
Example: Page ages slower than skin in the university archive.
Ink dries faster than regret
<Meaning: Drying time is 30 s; regret lasts decades.
Example: Ink dries faster than regret after signing the contract.
Chapter swallows months
Meaning: Authors consume 90 days per chapter.
Example: Chapter swallows months during the thesis revision.
Plot outruns clock
Meaning: Narrative pace exceeds real-time by 900 %.
Example: Plot outruns clock across the flashback sequence.
Idioms For Time
Dawn resets counters
Meaning: Solar elevation at 0Ā° reloads circadian genes.
Example: Dawn resets counters in the SCN neurons.
Noon burns shadow
Meaning: 90Ā° solar angle shrinks shadow to zero cm.
Example: Noon burns shadow across the equatorial plaza.
Dusk trades light for dark
Meaning: 120 lux falls to 3 lux in 28 min.
Example: Dusk trades light for dark at 18:42 UTC.
Relay passes second-hand
Meaning: Motion transfers at 6Ā° per second.
Example: Relay passes second-hand across the analog dial.
Tick births silence
Meaning: 1 Hz sound alternates with 0.5 s quiet.
Example: Tick births silence inside the quartz clock.
Chrono eats pulse
Meaning: Timer consumes 32 kHz crystal oscillations.
Example: Chrono eats pulse during the 10 s sprint trial.
Phase drifts 0.1 ppm
Meaning: Oscillator offset accumulates 8.64 ms per day.
Example: Phase drifts 0.1 ppm across the satellite link.
Leap eats a beat
Meaning: Inserted second deletes one 23:59:60.
Example: Leap eats a beat on 31 Dec 2016.
Heartbeat marks epoch
Meaning: 72 bpm timestamps each ventricular cycle.
Example: Heartbeat marks epoch in the Holter record.
Neuron fires ticks
Meaning: Action potentials encode 5 ms intervals.
Example: Neuron fires ticks across the hippocampal grid.
Cache forgets in 200 ms
Meaning: Iconic memory decays within 0.2 s.
Example: Cache forgets in 200 ms after stimulus offset.
RAM loses charge in 64 ms
Meaning: DRAM refresh interval equals 64 ms.
Example: RAM loses charge in 64 ms without refresh.
Backup ages tape
Meaning: LTO media tolerates 30 years at 20 Ā°C.
Example: Backup ages tape inside the climate vault.
Snapshot freezes tick
Meaning: Freeze-frame captures 1/240 s slice.
Example: Snapshot freezes tick during the bullet flight.
Clock skews 2 ms/km
Meaning: Relativistic dilation accumulates 2 ms over 1000 km.
Example: Clock skews 2 ms/km in GPS constellation.
Half-life halves memory
Meaning: 5730 years reduce Ā¹ā“C to 50 %.
Example: Half-life halves memory in the carbon sample.
Event horizon stalls tick
Meaning: Gravitational redshift stretches second to infinity.
Example: Event horizon stalls tick at the Schwarzschild radius.
Heat death ends rhythm
Meaning: Maximum entropy stops all oscillations.
Example: Heat death ends rhythm after 10Ā¹ā°ā° years.
Planck tick is 5.39Ć10ā»ā“ā“ s
Meaning: Shortest meaningful interval.
Example: Planck tick is 5.39Ć10ā»ā“ā“ s in quantum gravity.
Lambda stretches tick
Meaning: Dark energy dilates cosmic time.
Example: Lambda stretches tick by 7 % per billion years.
Redshift erases beat
Meaning: z=10 stretches 1 s to 11 s.
Example: Redshift erases beat from the first galaxies.
Neutrino outruns light by 60 ns
Meaning: OPERA anomaly measured 60 ns early arrival.
Example: Neutrino outruns light by 60 ns through 730 km.
Muon survives 2.2 Āµs
Meaning: Proper lifetime extends to 11 Āµs at 0.98 c.
Example: Muon survives 2.2 Āµs in the upper atmosphere.
Laser slices femtoseconds
Meaning: Ti:sapphire pulses last 5 fs.
Example: Laser slices femtoseconds to watch electron motion.
Optical lattice counts yoctoseconds
Meaning: 429 petahertz enables 10ā»Ā²ā“ s resolution.
Example: Optical lattice counts yoctoseconds in the lab.
Stellar day lags 4 minutes
Meaning: Earth rotation exceeds 24 h by 236 s.
Example: Stellar day lags 4 minutes against the distant quasar.
Fluorescence blinks 1 ns
Meaning: Excited state lifetime equals 10ā»ā¹ s.
Example: Fluorescence blinks 1 ns after the dye absorbs photons.
QUIZ_START
Quiz: idioms for Time
1. What does āMinute folds twiceā mean?
A. One minute has two key moments
B. A minute is twice as long at night
C. Two minutes become one
D. A clock repeats every minute
Correct: A
2. How much of the day does āHour eats dayā claim one hour consumes?
A. 1 %
B. 4.17 %
C. 10 %
D. 25 %
Correct: B
3. āCalendar sheds leaves like autumnā compares days falling away to what?
A. Raindrops
B. Snowflakes
C. Autumn leaves
D. Petals
Correct: C
4. In literature, what ages more slowly than human skin?
A. Ink
B. Paper page
C. Chapter heading
D. Book cover
Correct: B
5. What real measurement is linked to āMillisecond births errorā?
A. 3 cm GPS drift
B. 30 cm ruler shift
C. 3 mm pen width
D. 3 m tape stretch
Correct: A
6. āDawn resets countersā reloads which part of the body?
A. Eye lens
B. SCN neurons
C. Finger nerves
D. Ear drum
Correct: B
7. How long does iconic memory last according to āCache forgetsā?
A. 20 ms
B. 200 ms
C. 2 s
D. 20 s
Correct: B
8. āHalf-life halves memoryā refers to the decay of which isotope?
A. Ā¹Ā²C
B. Ā¹Ā³C
C. Ā¹ā“C
D. Ā¹āµC
Correct: C
9. What does āEvent horizon stalls tickā describe?
A. A broken wristwatch
B. Gravitational redshift stretching time
C. A fast-moving satellite
D. An alarm going off
Correct: B
10. āPlanck tick is 5.39Ć10ā»ā“ā“ sā is described as the:
A. Longest second in history
B. Shortest meaningful interval
C. Average heartbeat
D. Time to blink
Correct: B
