have a time

English

Verb

have a time (third-person singular simple present has a time, present participle having a time, simple past and past participle had a time)

1. (idiomatic, informal) Synonym of have a time of it.
   • 1976 October 21, Letter to Wayne Snipes:

     We had a time with our brother because of this, trying to get him into the hospital for treatment.

   • 2003, Rich Shull, Autism, Pre Rain Man, page 10:

     Even in the best of times us older Autistics have a time handling two or three things at once.

   • 2014, Bernadine C. Taylor, Keeping the Faith, page 200:

     Mama had a time tryin' to have him released in her custody, because of his severe medical condition.

   • 2017, Jean-Baptiste Truteau, Raymond J. DeMallie, Douglas R. Parks, A Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri, page 123:

     Our hopes began to revive, at least from no longer lacking food, for I really had a time with several of my men who, often believing us lost on the prairie or surely to die from hunger, thirst, or at the hands of the Sioux, were continually cursing the moment when they had embarked on such a voyage.