borrowed time
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bor·rowed time
(bŏr′ōd, bôr′-)n.
A period of uncertainty during which the inevitable consequences of a current situation are postponed or avoided. Often used with on: terminally ill patients living on borrowed time.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
bor′rowed time′
n.
time during which death or another inevitable event is postponed: to live on borrowed time.
[1895–1900]
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