to get late
78
1.7
- phrasal verb
:
hacerse tarde
- I wanted to stay longer, but it's getting late and I need to go home.
And and he would call the guys together when it gets so late and say, OK, we got to go.
- And and he would call the guys together when it gets so late and say, OK, we got to go.
- In fact today I didn't work out and it's getting late and I'll still I'll still find a time to work out.
Examples
-
"I'd love to, Liam, only it's getting late and I have a plane to catch tomorrow."
Fiction book (1998) -
Noah looked at his watch and saw that it was getting late.
Fiction book (1996) -
And well, it's getting rather late.
-
All right, it's getting late.
-
You guys, it's getting late.
-
My inside clock told me it was getting late for the ride into the city.
Blog text (29) -
Finally, it was getting late and we had to leave.
Fiction book (1995) -
And now, if you'll excuse me, it is getting late.
-
We're going to see a Bollywood movie at the Zone, and it's getting late.
-
It's getting late, and I really don't want to get into it.
Synonyms
15
2.9
Move toward a later time
Antonyms
How Late
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'get' in the sense 'become' plus 'late' ('after the expected time') yields 'become late'. The 'get = become' sense is a common, productive pattern in English (and mirrored in many other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both words can reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Get late comes from the simple image of time moving forward: the day gets into the late hour as the sun goes down and the clock hands move. So it means 'to become late' or that it is time to stop and go home.