idle time


noun
  1. commerce time during which a machine or a worker could be working but is not, as when one job has been completed and tooling or materials for the next are not complete or available: Compare downtime

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use idle time in a sentence

  • The question of idle time does not enter into computations of the year's possible income and necessary outlays.

    The Leaven in a Great City | Lillian William Betts
  • The Pennsylvania made a round trip in about thirty-five days, with a day or two of idle time at either end.

  • In the idle time between dinner and supper he sat down by the fire, lighted his pipe, repented his unruly tongue, and waited.

    Greyfriars Bobby | Eleanor Atkinson
  • Fortunately, a brother was able to pay her doctor's bills, until he also was laid off during part of her idle time.

    Making Both Ends Meet | Sue Ainslie Clark and Edith Wyatt
  • She had been obliged to go in debt to her landlady for part of her long idle time, after her savings had been exhausted.

    Making Both Ends Meet | Sue Ainslie Clark and Edith Wyatt