starts イディオム

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by fits and starts

irregularly, with many stops and starts By fits and starts the company was finally able to begin business.

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fits and starts

moving unevenly, stop and go The new crew worked in fits and starts, not at a steady pace.

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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.

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fits and starts, by

fits and starts, by
Also, in fits and starts. With irregular intervals of action and inaction, spasmodically, as in The campaign is proceeding by fits and starts. This expression began in the late 1500s as by fits, the noun fit meaning a “paroxysm” or “seizure”; starts was added about a century later.