time and lime
noun1
Business, Manufacturing, Shipbuilding Dated A contract where the shipbuilder is compensated based on the actual time spent and materials used during the construction of a vessel.
- Naval building may also be assumed to be generally profitable since so much of it has the character of prototype construction and tends to be on 'time and lime'.1967, Blackwell (publisher), The Journal of Industrial Economics, volume 17, page 13: