waste no time

waste no time (third-person singular simple present wastes no time, present participle wasting no time, simple past and past participle wasted no time)

1. To begin or to finish something immediately.
   • 1925, Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys:

     But George’s eye had fallen upon Bundle, as she sat half in and half out of the window, and he remembered discretion just in time. He rose.
     “We must waste no time. I must send off some wires at once.”

   • 1958 August, “More Light on Brunel”, in Railway Magazine, page 516:

     His exhortations to his assistants to waste no time in getting on with the job, and to be tactful and courteous with those outside the railway service with whom they had to deal, are as apposite today as they were a century ago.

   • 1988 September 16, David Whiteis, “Rock's early raunch: Joe Houston saves the wails”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 March 2016:

     A veteran of the tough audiences on the black rhythm and blues circuit, Houston wastes no time noodling around on stage; he begins his show from the back of the club, screaming bansheelike saxophone war cries through a cordless microphone and slowly stalking through the crowd in the general direction of the bandstand.

   • 2012 October 14, Lorna Inness, “Death on the Caribou”, in ChronicleHerald, Halifax, Canada, retrieved 25 October 2015:

     Cuthburt turned the Grandmere in time to see the U-69 within yards of his ship. Graf wasted no time in taking evasive action, crash diving and turning, barely escaping the Grandmere’s efforts to ram him.

   • 2022 January 3, Erin Crabtree, “‘The Bachelor’ Premiere Recap: Clayton Echard Has 1st Rose Rejected as Salley Quits Before Night 1”, in Us Weekly‎^[2]:

     Once inside, Clayton wasted no time testing his chemistry with the women, kissing Teddi, Kira, Eliza, Cassidy and Rachel. However, not all of his relationships were so easy — Claire announced to the other contestants that her one-on-one time with Clayton was “not the vibe,” noting that he was too nice for her.

   • 2025 October 14, Phil McNulty, “Latvia 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[3]:

     England's supporters inside Riga's Daugava Stadium wasted no time in making their feelings clear about Tuchel's criticism of the Wembley crowd following the 3-0 friendly win against Wales on Thursday.
     The game was only seconds old when loud chants of "Thomas Tuchel we'll sing when we want" as he was then subjected to a torrent of sarcasm from his own fans.

• “waste no time”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.