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time flies

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time flies (when you're having fun)

Fig. time passes very quickly. (From the Latin tempus fugit.) I didn't really think it was so late when the party ended. Doesn't time fly? Time simply flew while the old friends exchanged news.

See also: flies, time

time flies

(spoken)

a certain period has passed surprisingly quickly I can't believe your daughter is old enough to be in college already! How time flies!

Etymology: based on the saying time flies when you are having fun

See also: flies, time

Time flies.

  also How time flies!

something that you say which means that time passes very quickly, often so quickly that you are surprised I can't believe your son is at university already. How time flies! I never seem to manage to finish my work. The time just flies.

See also: flies, time

time flies

Time passes quickly, as in It's midnight already? Time flies when you're having fun, or I guess it's ten years since I last saw you-how time flies. This idiom was first recorded about 1800 but Shakespeare used a similar phrase, "the swiftest hours, as they flew," as did Alexander Pope, "swift fly the years."

See also: flies, time