take one's sweet time

take one's sweet time (third-person singular simple present takes one's sweet time, present participle taking one's sweet time, simple past took one's sweet time, past participle taken one's sweet time)

1. (colloquial) To take a very long time; to be too slow or leisurely in getting something done.

   Synonym: take one's sweet little time

   • 2012, Patsy Caldwell, Amy Lyles Wilson, You Be Sweet: Sharing Your Heart One Down-Home Dessert at a Time:

     It had been almost a year since Brother Steve had left, and they'd been stuck with one substitute after another while the bishop took his sweet time finding a permanent replacement. Lindsay just hoped the wait would be worth it.

   • 2008, “In the New Year”, performed by The Walkmen:

     You took your sweet time
     And I waited by without complaint
     'Til all the pipe dreams made me insane