do by halves

English

Alternative forms

• do by half-measures

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

do by halves (third-person singular simple present does by halves, present participle doing by halves, simple past did by halves, past participle done by halves)

1. (idiomatic, transitive, chiefly in the negative) To perform (a task, etc) partially or incompletely; to do (something) inadequately, halfheartedly, or shoddily.
   • 1880, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in A Tramp Abroad:

     [A] pedestrian tour of Europe could not be complete without them. Of course that decided me at once to see them, for I never allow myself to do things by halves, or in a slurring, slipshod way.

   • 1925 Sept. 21, Mordaunt Hall, "The Screen" (film review of The Freshman), New York Times (retrieved 5 March 2014):

     Rin-Tin-Tin does nothing by halves, for he tracks the murderer himself and kills him.

   • 1988, Roald Dahl, Mathilda:

     Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog!

   • 2005 April 8, Claus Moser, “Obituary: Jane Attenborough”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 5 March 2014:

     If there was one word to describe her, it was "intense" - so well chosen in her brother Michael's moving eulogy. Nothing, absolutely nothing was done by halves. . . . Her commitment was total.

References

• “do by halves”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.