gain time

plural gain times

1. countableuncountablecriminologyA reduction of a prisoner’s sentence due to exemplary behavior or participation in a rehabilitation program during incarceration.

present singular third person gains time · participle present gaining time · participle past gained time · past gained time

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo cause a delay by a circuitous mode of procedure in order to obtain more time than is available.
2. To make up time lost; of a clock or watch, to run fast.

   My opportunity to see what one of these engines could do came when we left Ballymoney on the train from Derry eight minutes late: No. 53 and her crew tore the schedule to shreds and reached Belfast six minutes early, having gained time on every section.

   1959 June 29, R. A. Young, “A Railway Holiday in Ireland—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 420

   Antonyms: lose time