gain time
verb1
Idiomatic To cause a delay by a circuitous mode of procedure in order to obtain more time than is available.
2
To make up time lost; of a clock or watch, to run fast.
- My opportunity to see what one of these engines could do came when we left Ballymoney on the train from Derry eight minutes late: No. 53 and her crew tore the schedule to shreds and reached Belfast six minutes early, having gained time on every section.1959 June 23, R. A. Young, “A Railway Holiday in Ireland—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 420: