have a time

present singular third person has a time · participle present having a time · participle past had a time · past had a time

1. idiomaticinformalSynonym of have a time of it.

   Even in the best of times us older Autistics have a time handling two or three things at once.

   2003, Rich Shull, Autism, Pre Rain Man, page 10

   3 more examples

   We had a time with our brother because of this, trying to get him into the hospital for treatment.

   1976 October 21, Letter to Wayne Snipes

   Mama had a time tryin' to have him released in her custody, because of his severe medical condition.

   2014, Bernadine C. Taylor, Keeping the Faith, page 200

   Our hopes began to revive, at least from no longer lacking food, for I really had a time with several of my men who, often believing us lost on the prairie or surely to die from hunger, thirst, or at the hands of the Sioux, were continually cursing the moment when they had embarked on such a voyage.

   2017, Jean-Baptiste Truteau, Raymond J. DeMallie, Douglas R. Parks, A Fur Trader on the Upper Missouri, page 123

   Synonyms: have a time of it