"by halves" meaning in English

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "by halves",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "by halves",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English negative polarity items",
          "parents": [
            "Negative polarity items",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "do by halves"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1724, Punch's Petition to the Ladies, Jonathan Swift",
          "text": "Thou fool, I ne'er do things by halves,\nFarthings are made for Irish slaves;\nNo brass for me, it must be gold,\nOr fifty pounds in silver told.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1817, Jane Austen, chapter 6, in Northanger Abbey",
          "text": "I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1849, Washington Irving, chapter 26, in Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography",
          "text": "Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1901, Ralph Connor, chapter 6, in The Man From Glengarry",
          "text": "She was too thoroughgoing to do things by halves.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989 July 30, Larry Rohter, “Theater: In Latin America, Headlines Inspire The Drama”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-03-05",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 Sept. 24, Gareth Chadwick, \"Far-flung business: Making all the right moves, The Independent (UK) (retrieved 5 March 2014)",
          "text": "They don't do things by halves in the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily."
      ],
      "id": "en-by_halves-en-prep_phrase-d~jpwSZF",
      "links": [
        [
          "Partially",
          "partially"
        ],
        [
          "incompletely",
          "incompletely"
        ],
        [
          "inadequately",
          "inadequately"
        ],
        [
          "halfheartedly",
          "halfheartedly"
        ],
        [
          "shoddily",
          "shoddily"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in the negative"
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "by half"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-by halves.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3b/En-au-by_halves.ogg/En-au-by_halves.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/En-au-by_halves.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "by halves"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "do by halves"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "by halves",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "by halves",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "by half"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English negative polarity items",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1724, Punch's Petition to the Ladies, Jonathan Swift",
          "text": "Thou fool, I ne'er do things by halves,\nFarthings are made for Irish slaves;\nNo brass for me, it must be gold,\nOr fifty pounds in silver told.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1817, Jane Austen, chapter 6, in Northanger Abbey",
          "text": "I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1849, Washington Irving, chapter 26, in Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography",
          "text": "Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1901, Ralph Connor, chapter 6, in The Man From Glengarry",
          "text": "She was too thoroughgoing to do things by halves.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989 July 30, Larry Rohter, “Theater: In Latin America, Headlines Inspire The Drama”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-03-05",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 Sept. 24, Gareth Chadwick, \"Far-flung business: Making all the right moves, The Independent (UK) (retrieved 5 March 2014)",
          "text": "They don't do things by halves in the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Partially",
          "partially"
        ],
        [
          "incompletely",
          "incompletely"
        ],
        [
          "inadequately",
          "inadequately"
        ],
        [
          "halfheartedly",
          "halfheartedly"
        ],
        [
          "shoddily",
          "shoddily"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in the negative"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-by halves.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3b/En-au-by_halves.ogg/En-au-by_halves.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/En-au-by_halves.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "by halves"
}