fits and starts en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
-
(idiomatic, plural, plural-only) Activity which is intermittent, variable in intensity, and prolonged by interruptions.
We act by fits and starts, like drowning men, But just peep up, and then pop down again.
1681, John Dryden, Epilogue for ‘The King's House’, lines 1–2:It is a stammered, sleazy chronicle, told by fits and starts in bits and pieces, and constantly interrupted by the director and actors.
1955 December 26, “Old Play in Manhattan”, in Time:T'other day as Apollo sat pitching his darts, / Through the clouds of November, by fits and by starts, / He began to consider how long it had been, / Since the bards of Old England a session had seen.
1811 December, [Leigh Hunt], “Art. X.—The Feast of the Poets.”, in [Leigh Hunt], editor, The Reflector, […], volume II, number IV, London: […] John Hunt, […] sold by J. Carpenter, […], →OCLC, page 314:2007, "Australian Premier vows troops pullout," Gulf Daily News (Bahrain), 22 Dec., Paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fits and starts undermines US military planning and risks the gains made by US troops.
I spent the night in fits and starts, getting up and lying down full twenty times, and dreaming the same dream over and over again.
1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Master Humphrey's Clock:Progress in this project has come in fits and starts.
Translations (4)
fr à-coups (intermittent activity) · es a trompicones (intermittent activity) · fi sysäyksittäin (intermittent activity) · cmn 斷斷續續 /断断续续 (intermittent activity)