Theseus
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If you do not do things by halves, you always make a lot of effort and do things very well/to do things very thoroughly and with a lot of energy:-
-- 'I didn't realise you were decorating the whole house!' 'Oh, we don't do things by halves round here.'
More loosely it can also be used in a spirit of exasperation to refer to someone who, when his wife has run out of, say, dishwasher tablets and asks him to get a packet from the shop, he always buys not one but two replacements and fills the cupboard with spares.
--Can you get another packet of dishwasher tablets and i mean only one packet? I know you, you don't do anything by halves!!
-- 'I didn't realise you were decorating the whole house!' 'Oh, we don't do things by halves round here.'
More loosely it can also be used in a spirit of exasperation to refer to someone who, when his wife has run out of, say, dishwasher tablets and asks him to get a packet from the shop, he always buys not one but two replacements and fills the cupboard with spares.
--Can you get another packet of dishwasher tablets and i mean only one packet? I know you, you don't do anything by halves!!