make good time

English

Verb

make good time (third-person singular simple present makes good time, present participle making good time, simple past and past participle made good time)

1. To proceed at a good pace.
   • 1951 November, 'Pausanias', “To Greece by the "Simplon-Orient Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 731:

     From Belgrade the train is hauled by a 2-10-0, and makes good time through undulating country, with vineyards and herds of woolly pigs, over single line to Nish, where the Sofia and Istanbul portion, including through coaches (until recently) from Prague to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is detached.

   • 2000, George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, page 545:

     On the morrow we should reach the kingsroad. We'll make good time after that, straight up to the Twins. It's going to be me who hands you over to that mother of yours.

   • 2010, Glenn Dorhn, From Moonshine to Maritime, page 31:

     We had departed at night so there wasn't much to see even though we were heading south. The next morning was a bright sunny day with fair winds. The ride was going good and we made good time. It wasn't long before we were south enough that the water was the prettiest of blue and the sea life was different.

   • 2010, Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know:

     We want to make good time; to keep a brisk pace; to get to the post office and back. People yank their dogs along, tugging at leashes to get noses out of smells, pulling past tempting dogs, to get on with the walk.

   • 2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 28:10 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN)‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 November 2022:

     Juneau was making good time with the other surviving U.S. Navy ships, despite her damage, when the I-26 spotted her and sent a salvo of Type 95 torpedoes in her direction. Passing between the Helena and San Francisco, some indication being they had actually been shot at the San Francisco and gone long because San Francisco was travelling significantly slower than expected, they nonetheless hit Juneau and detonated the ship's magazine.

2. To arrive in good time.
3. To use one's time efficiently.

References

• “make good time”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.