term limits, time off, by fits and starts

DEALBOOK

After Big Bet, Google Is to Sell Motorola Unit

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and DAVID GELLES

Though not a total financial loss, the announced sale of the smartphone unit for $2.91 billion, less than two years after Google paid $12.5 billion for it, is a sign of fits and starts at the company in the mobile age.

 He had beed writing the book by fits and starts

Live: Hearings on Term Limits

By SEWELL CHAN and JONATHAN P. HICKS 1 minute ago

The City Council is hearing testimony on a change to the term limits law that would allow Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to run for a third term.

Safety Is Issue as Budget Cuts Free Prisoners
By MONICA DAVEY
Complaints and new arrests have prompted some states to reconsider giving prisoners time off for good behavior.

time off

Meaning #1: a time period when you are not required to work
Antonym: work time (meaning #1)
A break from one's employment or school, as in I need some time off from teaching to work on my dissertation, or He took time off to make some phone calls. [First half of 1900s]

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term (TIME) Show phonetics
noun
1 [C] the fixed period of time which something lasts for:
He received a prison term for drunk driving.
The Government's term of office (= The period in which they have power) expires at the end of the year.
See also terms.

2 [C] MAINLY UK (US USUALLY semester or quarter) one of the periods into which a year is divided at school, college or university:
In Britain, the spring term starts in January and ends just before Easter.
We're very busy in term-time (= during the term).

3 [C] FORMAL the period of time which a legal agreement lasts for:
The lease on our house is near the end of its term.

4 [U] SPECIALIZED the end of a pregnancy when a baby is expected to be born:
Her last pregnancy went to term (= The baby was born after the expected number of weeks).
a full-term pregnancy

-term Show phonetics
suffix
long/medium/short-term lasting a long/medium/short time:
The project will have long-term benefits.

fit[fit²]

• レベル：大学入試程度
• 発音記号[fít]

[名]

1 （病気の）発作, ひきつけ, けいれん, 差し込み((of ...))

a hysterical fit
ヒステリーの発作

cough oneself into a fit
せき込んで止まらない

be seized by ［＝be taken with］ a fit of coughing
せき込む.

2 （感情・行動などの）一時的激発, 興奮（状態）, 高まり；気まぐれ((of ...))

a fit of rage
発作的激怒

in a fit of conscience
急に気がとがめて

in fits (of laughter)
笑いころげて.

beat ［knock］ a person into fits

((略式))〈人を〉さんざんやっつける.

give a person a fit

((略式))〈人を〉びっくり［むっと］させる, ひどく怒らせる.

have a fit/have forty ［a thousand］ fits

((略式))
(1) 発作を起こす, 卒倒する.
(2) 動転する；かんしゃくを起こす, かっとなる.

in ［by］ fits and starts

発作的に, ときどき思い出したように, 断続的に.

throw a fit

((略式))かんしゃくを起こす.

in (or by) fits and starts

with irregular bursts of activity:the economy was recovering in fits and starts

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

• The poetry is moving forward in fits and starts.
• Like my wife's slimming programme, this year's harvest is going in fits and starts, punctuated by incredibly hot days of activity and frustrating rest periods.
• The improvement came slowly, sporadically, in fits and starts.

start

━━[名]

1 出発, 門出；（行為・競走などの）スタート, 始まり, 開始, （事の）始め, 最初；始動；出発の合図, 起動力, はずみ；((the 〜))出発点, 開始点

(right) from the start
（そもそもの）初めから

from start to finish
最初から最後まで；終始一貫して

get off to a good ［a bad］ start
出足がよい［悪い］

have ［get］ a lucky start in one's career
幸運な人生の門出をする

make a start on ...
…を始める

The Nancy festival got its start twelve years ago.
ナンシー祭は12年前に始まった.

2 最初の部分, 始めのほう

at the start of winter
初冬に.

3 （競走への）参加, 出場, 出走；（競技・試合の）先発メンバーであること；（競技での）先発（権）, 優先（権）；（…に対しての）リード, 先進（距離）((over, on ...))

Our team had a start on the opposition.
相手チームに差をつけた.

4 ((通例a 〜))（ある位置から）突然動き出すこと；はっとする［驚く］こと

give a person a sudden start
人をびくっとさせる

awake with a start
はっと目をさます.

5 門出の祝い, 勇気づけ, 励まし.

6 （材木・部品などの）ずれ, 緩み, 外れ, それ, ゆがみ；（縫い物などの）ほつれ；破れ目, 漏れ穴.

7 ((古))（感情・機知・幻想などの）突発, 激発, ほとばしり.