give the time of day

Meaning

Verb

• To acknowledge someone; to give someone respect or attention; to tip one's hat
• To not acknowledge someone; to snub someone; to disrespect someone; to ignore someone
• To tell someone the time of day by looking at one's wristwatch, etc.

Origin

• According to some, the expression originally literally referred to greeting someone with the obsolete greeting "good time of day", or other greeting appropriate to the time of day, and only later acquired an association with telling someone the time, along with its idiomatic sense.