do by halves

present singular third person does by halves · participle present doing by halves · past did by halves · participle past done by halves · alternative do by half-measures

1. idiomatictransitiveTo perform (a task, etc) partially or incompletely; to do (something) inadequately, halfheartedly, or shoddily.

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

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

   3 more examples

   [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.

   1880, Mark Twain, chapter 30, in A Tramp Abroad

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

   1988, Roald Dahl, Mathilda

   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.

   2005 April 8, Claus Moser, “Obituary: Jane Attenborough”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 05 Mar 2014