A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

till the cows come home • till the fat lady sings
till the cows come home — do smth. continually for a very long
time: She likes to watch cartoons very much, she can sit before
the TV and watch it till the cows come home.
till the fat lady sings —(U.S. sl.) till the end of smth.; until
smth. is finally concluded (also: till the last dog is hung ): This
team has got heart of gold and spirit of an eagle, and will fight
till the fat lady sings.
Note: 
Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase
till the pips squeak
—(sl.) do smth. to the limit, even though it
will make other people suffer (often with reference to excessive
taxation): Throughout my working life, and more so recently
I’ve been taxed till the pips squeak.
tilt board • tilting board
tilt board —an apparatus for testing perception of bodily
position by rotating a blindfolded person: The subjects stood
on the tiltboard with lower-extremity support and were asked
to maintain a balanced position on the board.
tilting board —(U.S.) a long plank set on a center mount for
use in the game of seesaw: The outdoor toy called a seesaw
has a number of regional names. In southeast New England
it is called a tilt or a tilting board.
time fire • timed fire
time fire —artillery fire in which the projectile is intended
to burst in air: Griffith told me to fire some hand grenades,
which went off three or four feet above the trench and had
the effect of artillery time fire.
timed fire —target firing in which a given number of rounds
are fired within a particular time limit: After the slow-fire
course is complete, the targets are moved to 25 yards for timed
fire.
time service • time-serving
time service —
1
. determination of the precise time as the
work of an astronomical observatory: The time-service has
also occupied part of the energy of the observatory. 2. shaping
one’s behavior so as to please one’s superiors or to fit the dom-
inant pattern of one’s times: This freedom from time-service
gives a dignity to Heywood’s character.
time-serving — = time service 2: It was all devotion, not time-
serving as the vulgar thought.
See also: serve one’s time / serve time.