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 dominant 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 timeserving as the vulgar thought.
See also: serve one’s time / serve time.