by halves
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Prepositional phrase
- (idiomatic) Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily.
- c. 1724, Jonathan Swift, "Punch's Petition to the Ladies":
- Thou fool, I ne'er do things by halves,
- Farthings are made for Irish slaves;
- No brass for me, it must be gold,
- Or fifty pounds in silver told.
- 1817, Jane Austen, chapter 6, in Northanger Abbey:
- I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.
- 1849, Washington Irving, chapter 26, in Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography:
- Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.
- 1901, Ralph Connor, chapter 6, in The Man From Glengarry:
- She was too thoroughgoing to do things by halves.
- 1989 July 30, Larry Rohter, "Theater: In Latin America, Headlines Inspire The Drama," New York Times (retrieved 5 March 2014):
- "When things happen to us in Latin America, it is never by halves. There is no equilibrium, so when it rains, towns get inundated and disappear, and when we have a revolution, half the population dies."
- 2006 Sept. 24, Gareth Chadwick, "Far-flung business: Making all the right moves, The Independent (UK) (retrieved 5 March 2014):
- They don't do things by halves in the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger.
- c. 1724, Jonathan Swift, "Punch's Petition to the Ladies":
Usage notes
- Often used as modifier of a negative form of the verb do, as in:
- She does not do things by halves.
See also
Derived terms
References
- by halves at OneLook Dictionary Search
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