the sands are running out
Preserved but no longer current.
Time is getting short; there will be little opportunity for doing what you have to do unless you take advantage of now. Often used in reference to one who evidently has not much longer to live. The allusion is to the hour-glass.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “the sands are running out” mean?
Time is getting short; there will be little opportunity for doing what you have to do unless you take advantage of now. Often used in reference to one who evidently has not much longer to live. The allusion is to the hour-glass.
Is “the sands are running out” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.