View source for borrowed time

==English==

===Pronunciation===
* {{audio|en|en-au-borrowed time.ogg|a=AU}}

===Noun===
{{en-noun|head=[[borrow]]ed [[time]]|-}}

# {{lb|en|idiomatic}} A period of time whose precise [[duration]] is not known but which can be expected to be quite [[limited]], and at the end of which one's situation, [[benefit]]s, or [[opportunity|opportunities]] will be entirely [[terminate]]d.
#: {{coi|en|to live on '''borrowed time'''}}
#* {{RQ:Montgomery Rilla|chapter=31|passage=[A]t eighty a body is living on '''borrowed time'''.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|date=Aug 12, 1957|author=Herman N. Bundesen MD|pageurl=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KVApAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MGgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4468,3820326&dq=borrowed-time+-on&hl=en|title=Diet and Health|journal= Lewiston Daily Sun|page=3|accessdate=28 June 2011|passage=A century ago you could expect to live 40 years. {{...}} Anything beyond that was '''borrowed time'''.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|date=Aug 25 1997|author=Christopher Clarey|title=Ho Returns In Time To Say Farewell|titleurl=http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/25/sports/ho-returns-in-time-to-say-farewell.html|journal=New York Times|accessdate=28 June 2011|passage="Basically, my back is a career-ending injury." {{...}} It might seem like a Faustian bargain, but Ho is making the best of his '''borrowed time'''.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2011|author=Lisa Wingate|title=Larkspur Cove|page=193|isbn=9780764208218|pageurl=http://books.google.ca/books?id=H5mgFgrapacC&dq=%22borrowed+time%22+-on+subject%3A%22fiction%22&q=%22about+borrowed+time%22#v=snippet&q=%22about%20borrowed%20time%22&f=false|passage=The thing about '''borrowed time''' is that it always runs out quicker than you want it to.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|date=2020 April 8|author=Howard Johnston|title=East-ended? When the ECML was at risk|journal=Rail|page=69|text=Several duplicate routes were on '''borrowed time''', having escaped the Beeching cuts of half a decade earlier, but were nevertheless on the [[hit list]] for closure because they fell outside the recently devised social grants system.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=Pjotr Sauer|title=Prigozhin’s death would leave lasting mark on Russian army and elite|work=The Guardian|date=2023-08-23|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/23/prigozhins-death-would-leave-lasting-mark-on-russian-army-and-elite|issn=0261-3077|passage=Ever since the abortive coup, speculation had been that Yevgeny Prigozhin could be living on '''borrowed time'''.}}
# A length of time whose duration has traditionally expired, but which continues nonetheless.
#: {{ux|en|Having survived when many others died, she decided to make good use of her '''borrowed time'''.}}

====Usage notes====
* Often preceded by the preposition {{m|en|on}}.

====Translations====
{{trans-top}}
* Spanish: {{t|es|tiempo emprestado|m}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===References===
* {{R:OneLook}}
* {{R:Lexico|be (living) on borrowed time}}