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In a tearing hurry: to tear often means to rip but here it means very fast, in a terrible rush!
"Sorry, I can't stop now, I'm in a tearing hurry!"
You can use tear as a verb meaning to move fast too:
"As soon as we let the dog out, he will tear down the garden."
"She tore down the road on her bicycle."
Watching the clock: to keep looking at the time because you are bored with what you are doing and want the time to pass, or because you have to go and do something soon.
"She did not enjoy her last lesson of the day and was watching the clock until it was time to go home."
"All the time he was speaking to me, he was watching the clock, ready to leave."
Finally there is a proverb which you may sometimes come across:
Slow and steady wins the race!
This proverb comes from Aesop's fables from ancient Greece. The hare challenges the tortoise to a race. Because the hare can run very fast indeed, it believes that it will easily win. The tortoise however moves much more slowly. But the tortoise accepts the challenge and both the animals race each other.
The hare runs far in front and becomes so confident of winning that he decides to sit down for a rest! However, he falls asleep and has a nap while all the time the tortoise goes slowly and steadily around the race course. Finally the tortoise goes past the sleeping hare and overtakes him. When the hare wakes up, it is too late, the tortoise has won and claimed the prize!
This is a useful proverb about learning English too, and many other things.
EmilyGL
Feb 14, 2025
Glad you enjoyed it! I like this proverb too.
M.S.
Feb 14, 2025
Hi.
Slow and steady wins the race is my favorite proverb.
I'm overjoyed to learn this interesting usage of tear.
Regarding watching the clock, it might be a universal action!
Thank you so much for your interesting post!!