By Halves Meaning

(idiomatic) Partially, incompletely; inadequately, halfheartedly, shoddily.

Example: c. 1724, Jonathan Swift, "Punch's Petition to the Ladies":
  Thou fool, I ne'er do things by halves,
  Farthings are made for Irish slaves;
  No brass for me, it must be gold,
  Or fifty pounds in silver told.
1817, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, ch. 6:
  I have no notion of loving people by halves; it is not my nature. My attachments are always excessively strong.
1849, Washington Irving, Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography, ch. 26:
  Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy.
1901, Ralph Connor, The Man From Glengarry, ch. 6:
  She was too thoroughgoing to do things by halves.
1989 July 30, Larry Rohter, "Theater: In Latin America, Headlines Inspire The Drama," New York Times (retrieved 5 March 2014):
  "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."
2006 Sept. 24, Gareth Chadwick, "Far-flung business: Making all the right moves, The Independent (UK) (retrieved 5 March 2014):
  They don't do things by halves in the States. Whether it is cars, burgers or waistlines, Americans like to think bigger.