in good time

English

Prepositional phrase

in good time

1. At a suitable time.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Lear: I gave you all—
     Reagan: And in good time you gave it.

2. In time; before an appointed time; with time to spare.
   • 1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:

     No visitors appeared to delay them, and they all three set off in good time for the pump-room.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 3, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     A taxicab took me round in good time for my appointment.

Derived terms

• all in good time

Translations

at a suitable time

• Esperanto: je konvena tempo
• Finnish: sopivasti (fi)
• French: en temps utile
• Ladino: en bonora
• Russian: своевре́менно (ru) (svojevrémenno)

before appointed time

• Czech: s předstihem
• Finnish: hyvissä ajoin
• German: vor der Zeit, vorzeitig (de), früher als gedacht, früher als geplant
• Romanian: la timp
• Scottish Gaelic: tràthail

See also

• in good season