Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
by halves en · ADP
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(idiomatic, in the negative) Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily.
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.
c. 1724, Punch's Petition to the Ladies, Jonathan Swift:"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."
1989 July 30, Larry Rohter, “Theater: In Latin America, Headlines Inspire The Drama”, in New York Times, retrieved 05 Mar 2014:I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.
1817, Jane Austen, chapter 6, in Northanger Abbey:She was too thoroughgoing to do things by halves.
1901, Ralph Connor, chapter 6, in The Man From Glengarry:Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.
1849, Washington Irving, chapter 26, in Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography:They don't do things by halves in the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger.
2006 Sept. 24, Gareth Chadwick, "Far-flung business: Making all the right moves, The Independent (UK) (retrieved 5 March 2014)
Deriveds
do by halves
Relateds
by half