have a good time

have a good time idiom
Enjoy oneself, as in I hope you have a good time at the beach. This idiom, also used as an imperative, dates from 16th-century England, where it was popular until the late 1600s and died out. Samuel Pepys, in a diary entry of March 1, 1666, wrote, “I went and had as good a time as heart could wish.” In America it continued to be used, and in the 1800s it reappeared in British speech as well. Also see hard time; show one a good time.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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