im·pa·tience ( m-p  sh ns)n. The quality or condition of being impatient. |
impatience [ɪmˈpeɪʃəns]
Impatience of wives: company of wives.
Impatience
(See also IMPETUOUSNESS.)
champ at the bit To show impatience; to wait restlessly or anxiously to begin. This expression, in figurative use since 1645, refers to the way a horse, eager to be off, chews on the bit in his mouth and stamps the ground with his hooves. Similar phrases with the same meaning are to bite the bridle, used figuratively since 1514, and to strain at the leash.
cool one’s heels To impatiently await the promised and supposedly imminent arrival of one or more persons, especially when the arrival has been intentionally and rudely delayed. Dating from the early 1600s, this expression is an allusion to the fact that one’s feet, hot from walking, are cooled by waiting in a stationary position.
Well, if we’re not ready, they’ll have to wait—won’t do them any harm to cool their heels a bit. (John Galsworthy, Strife, 1909)
sit upon hot cockles To be very impatient or restive; to be on pins and needles. “Hot Cockles” is the name of an ancient children’s game in which a blindfolded child tried to guess who had just struck him on the buttocks. Since sit on can mean ‘to await’ or ‘to be seated upon,’ to sit on hot cockles probably alludes either to one’s fidgety anticipation of the blow, or to the squirming discomfort of one who sits down after having been struck by an enthusiastic player.
He laughs and kicks like Chrysippus when he saw an ass eat figs; and sits upon hot cockles till it be blazed abroad. (Thomas Walkington, The Optick Glasse of Humors, 1607)
soft fire makes sweet malt A proverbial expression meaning that reckless hur-riedness often spoils an undertaking or project.
Soft fire, They say, does make sweet Malt, Good Squire. (Samuel Butler, Hudibras, 1663)
Malt is burnt and its sweetness lost by too intense a fire. This expression, synonymous with the common phrase haste makes waste, is now rarely heard.
| Noun | 1. |  impatience - a lack of patience; irritation with anything that causes delayannoyance, botheration, irritation, vexation - the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed |
| 2. | impatience - a restless desire for change and excitement fidget, fidgetiness, restlessness - a feeling of agitation expressed in continual motion; "he's got the fidgets"; "waiting gave him a feeling of restlessness" | |
| 3. | impatience - a dislike of anything that causes delay ill nature - a disagreeable, irritable, or malevolent disposition intolerance - impatience with annoyances; "his intolerance of interruptions" |
impatience
restlessness calm, composure, serenity
irritability patience, restraint, tolerance, forbearance
"All human errors are impatience, a premature breaking off of methodical procedure, an apparent fencing-in of what is apparently at issue" [Franz Kafka The Collected Aphorisms]
There was a hint of impatience in his tone → Il y avait une note d'impatience dans son ton.
to await sth with impatience → attendre qch avec impatience
to show impatience to do sth → se montrer impatient(e) de faire qch
She showed impatience to continue the climb → Elle se montrait impatiente de continuer l'ascension.
impatience (with sb/to do sth) → impazienza (nei confronti di qn/di fare qc)
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