She had nothing better to do, so she went to the bowling alley to kill time.

Mrs. Autumn […] lay in bed always till it was very late this being one of those happy expedients for killing time (as the fashionable phrase is) which, to discover, employs the inventions of persons of rank and fortune.

You were still out, so she drove back downtown and went to a movie to kill time until after midnight, when she thought she’d be more likely to find you in.

This was uneventful, except that I found myself consistently running in front of a fairly comfortable schedule, and after trying No. U.1 out on the bank from Creil to Survilliers with great success, had to kill some 8min time gained on the descent, a task which proved impossible, even though we were stopped opposite La Chapelle.

1982, Adele Geras, The Green behind the Glass (U.S. title: Snapshots of Paradise), Lions Teen Tracks,
She’s up there now, thought Bella, up in that freezing studio, killing time till the child comes home, mooning, dreaming, turning disjointed thoughts over in her head, and we'll pay for it.

Kill time

Meaning

Verb