by halves | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic,chiefly in the negative)Partially,incompletely;inadequately,halfheartedly,shoddily.c.1724,Punch's Petition to the Ladies,Jonathan Swift:Thou fool, I ne'er do thingsby 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, inNorthanger Abbey:I have no notion of loving peopleby halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.1849,Washington Irving, chapter 26, inOliver Goldsmith: A Biography:Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised thingsby halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.1901,Ralph Connor, chapter 6, inThe Man From Glengarry:She was too thoroughgoing to do thingsby halves.1989July 30,Larry Rohter, “Theater: In Latin America, Headlines Inspire The Drama”, inNew York Times, retrieved5 March 2014:"When things happen to us in Latin America, it is neverby halves. There is no equilibrium, so when it rains, towns get inundated and disappear, and when we have a revolution, half the population dies."2006Sept. 24, Gareth Chadwick, "Far-flung business: Making all the right moves,The Independent(UK)(retrieved 5 March 2014):They don't do thingsby halvesin the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger.

Examples:

EN: they never did things by halves.
ES: No hacían las cosas a medias.
EN: Bravo, bravo, I don't like to do things by halves, either.
ES: ¡Bravo, bravo, tampoco me gusta hacer las cosas a medias.
EN: I can't do things by halves.
ES: No puedo hacer las cosas a medias.
EN: We can go by halves.
ES: Podemos ir a medias.
EN: How could you do it? I don't do things by halves.
ES: - Pero si me acababa de decir...
EN: They love by halves
ES: Ellas aman a medias. Ahorran.
EN: I never do things by halves.
ES: Con toda mi alma.
EN: I don't like to do things by halves.
ES: Las cosas, para hacerlas, hay que hacerlas bien.
EN: I don't do things by halves.
ES: Nunca hago las cosas a medias.
EN: Well, if you're going to do things, really indulge yourself, there's no sense in doing it by halves.
ES: Bueno, si uno va a hacer cosas... realmente hay que esforzarse. No tiene sentido hacer las cosas por la mitad.
EN: She could do nothing by halves.
ES: No podía hacer nada a medias.
EN: Do you want to do things by halves?
ES: ¿Hacer las cosas a medias?
EN: The van der Luydens do nothing by halves.
ES: Los van der Luyden no hacen nada a medias.
EN: Well, it's not exactly Drury Lane but you'll find that Grand papa does nothing by halves
ES: Bueno, no es exactamente Drury Lane pero encontrará que el abuelo no hace nada a medias.
EN: Meriet's bile may simmer, but he does nothing by halves.
ES: Meriet tendrá mal carácter, pero no hace nada por la mitad.

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