From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbuy (somebody) timebuy (somebody) timeTIME/HAVE TIMEto deliberately make more time for yourself to do something, for example by delaying a decision ‘Can we talk about it later?’ he said, trying to buy a little more time. → buy
Examples from the Corpus
buy (somebody) time• Jack tipped him five and got behind the wheel of his Lincoln, which he was buying on time.• The diversion bought him some time.• There would be water from the sink to quench his thirst, and that would buy him some time.• Why did they buy at that time?• But he bought himself family time and independence.• Meanwhile, their opponents are busy taking out newspaper advertisements, buying air time and working the telephones.• The advantages are that it can be bought at any time, changed without penalty and fully refunded.• Obviously, you only score the points of any player you buy from the time you get him. 