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English
Pronunciation
Prepositional phrase
by halves
( 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.
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