The English We Speak: Bide someone's time

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Education, Language Learning

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2024

⏱️ 3 minutes

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Summary

Here's an expression about waiting patiently for an opportunity.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and I'm here and welcome to the English we speak where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.
0:08.0	I'm Fay Faye and I'm here with Phil.
0:11.0	Hello, how are you, Faye?
0:13.2	Did you buy that new car that you wanted?
0:15.4	No, actually.
0:16.8	I didn't.
0:17.8	I went to look, but there wasn't anything at the right price that I liked.
0:22.4	But that doesn't matter. It's not an emergency. I can
0:25.5	bite my time until the right deal comes along. That sounds like smart thinking and
0:29.8	that's the phrase we're looking at in this episode,
0:33.6	Bide someone's time.
0:35.6	And when we're speaking, it can be,
0:37.3	bide my time, bide your time,
0:39.5	bite his or her time,
0:40.8	bide our time, or by their time. It means to wait for an opportunity.
0:46.8	What can you say about it?
0:48.6	Bide is a very old-fashioned word that means wait. We don't really use it on its own anymore, but it
0:55.0	survives in this expression to bind someone's time. It means to wait patiently and
1:00.8	quietly for an opportunity.
1:03.6	You talked about binding your time for the right deal to come along.
1:08.0	You don't need a new car right now.
1:10.0	You're happy to wait.
	...

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