time burglar

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

time burglar (plural time burglars)

1. (informal, idiomatic) Something or someone that consumes an inordinate amount of time, especially without achieving anything productive.
   • 2012, Nick O'Kelly, Patrick Schulte, Live on the Margin: Learn to Love Risk, Profit from Fear, and Retire Tomorrow‎^[1], Two Old Goats Publishing, →ISBN:

     Hey, TV can be a great source of learning, information, and keeping your kids occupied, but if your priorities are shifting and you want to grow out of your current life and into a new one, it's a time burglar […]

   • 2013, Sandra Thompson, The Ghostly Grammar Boy‎^[2], →ISBN:

     Being a social climber was more of a time burglar than having a ghost twin sister.

   • 2015, Jen Lancaster, I Regret Nothing: A Memoir‎^[3], New American Library, →ISBN:

     That's when it hits me that Brunswick is a time burglar.
     Specifically, she's stealing my time with her inane questions and now she is my nemesis.

Synonyms

• time bandit, time thief