Literal translation
To kill time.
Meaning
to kill time
Explanation
The expression is transparent and maps exactly onto its French and English equivalents: tua, to kill, and tèms, time, name the act of filling a stretch of time felt as empty or heavy, occupying oneself without any particular productive aim while waiting for it to pass. The image of murder applied to time underscores the almost hostile relationship one can have with waiting: time becomes an enemy to be neutralised. The phrase exists in nearly identical form across many European languages, which suggests an old, shared image, independent of any recent borrowing from French into Provençal. It is used in ordinary register to describe any secondary activity, a game, a conversation, a walk, an errand, undertaken during a wait, a journey, or a period of forced inactivity. There is no pejorative shade particular to Provençal that would set this expression apart from its French or English counterpart: it is simply said, without judgment on how the time is actually filled.