burn daylight
To waste time.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Stop burning daylight and start your homework now.”
“We have a long drive ahead of us, so let's not burn daylight sitting in this parking lot.”
“The manager urged his team to finish the report immediately, insisting that they could not afford to burn daylight while the deadline approached.”
Originally a reference to burning candles during the day.
- 01
beat the daylights out of
To beat (someone) severely.
- 02
burn a hole in someone's pocket
To cause someone to spend money or be tempted to spend money.
- 03
burn bread
To cause something unfortunate to happen to (someone) by mentioning it; to jinx something for (someone).
- 04
burn one's bridges
To destroy one's path, connections, reputation, opportunities, etc., particularly intentionally.
- 05
burn one's fingers
To harm oneself; to suffer consequences of one's actions.
- 06
burn out
To make (someone) unavailable for work involving exposure to ionizing radiation by employing (the person) in such work until the person's accumulated exposure reaches the maximum permitted for an administrative period, typically a year.
- 07
burn rubber
To accelerate so rapidly from standstill that it leaves a mark of burnt rubber on the road from the tire.
- 08
burn someone's ears
To cause blushing of someone's ears due to strong embarrassment.
Last updated August 10, 2026