Microsoft minute
- noun
- Informal
:
minuto de Microsoft
- When the installer said it would finish in a Microsoft minute, I knew it might take all afternoon.
Examples
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She promised she’d deliver the files in a Microsoft minute, which meant I shouldn’t hold my breath.
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I'll be back in a Microsoft minute, but you know how updates can be.
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It's just a Microsoft minute!
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I need a Microsoft minute.
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I'll be back in a Microsoft minute, but you know how updates can be.
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When the installer said it would finish in a Microsoft minute, I knew it might take all afternoon.
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She promised she’d deliver the files in a Microsoft minute, which meant I shouldn’t hold my breath.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A unit of time equal to sixty seconds
434
1.3
A time when something happens later than planned
11
6.8
Delay before a device or program responds
4
4.4
A delay between an event and its effect
A short time, often said jokingly to mean a long time
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'Microsoft' (a company) with 'minute' (a short time), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a time interval associated with Microsoft, giving some transparent cue. However, the humorous/ironic sense that this 'minute' is unpredictably long relies on cultural knowledge and irony about tech/company delays, which is not predictable from the constituents alone, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Microsoft minute comes from a joke about computer updates that say 'one minute' but take much longer. By linking Microsoft (the company) with minute (a very short time), the phrase makes a picture of a wait that is called short but can be long, so it means a brief but often long 'delay'.