by fits and starts Idiom
by fits and starts
irregularly, with many stops and starts By fits and starts the company was finally able to begin business.
by fits and starts|by fits and jerks|fits|jerks|st
adv. phr. With many stops and starts, a little now and a little more later; not all the time; irregularly.
He had worked on the invention by fits and starts for several years. You will never get anywhere if you study just by fits and starts. Compare: FROM TIME TO TIME, OFF AND ON.
by fits and starts
In short, inconsistent, and aberrant intervals, as of motion or progress. The car was about absolutely burst down, but, by fits and starts, we were able to get it to a mechanic. A: "How's the article advancing along?" B: "Oh, by fits and starts."Learn more: and, by, fit, startfits and starts, by
Also, in fits and starts. With aberrant intervals of action and inaction, spasmodically, as in The attack is proceeding by fits and starts. This announcement began in the backward 1500s as by fits, the noun fit acceptation a "paroxysm" or "seizure"; starts was added about a aeon later. Learn more: and, by, fitfits and starts, by
In bursts of activity, spasmodically. The fits portion of this announcement dates from the sixteenth century, and the bond with starts came anon afterward, in the aboriginal seventeenth century. “Thou hast these things alone by fits and starts,” wrote Robert Sanderson in one of his Sermons (1620). John Ray’s adage accumulating of 1670 put it hardly differently: “By fits and girds, as an ague takes a goose.”Learn more: and, by, fit