half-cocked
(of a firearm) at the position of half cock.
lacking mature consideration or enough preparation; ill-considered or ill-prepared; half-baked.
Idioms about half-cocked
go off half-cocked, to act or happen prematurely: He went off half-cocked and told everyone the news.: Also go off at half cock.
Origin of half-cocked
1Words Nearby half-cocked
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use half-cocked in a sentence
But here again, Perry is not the half-cocked yahoo his critics assume.
Today at last those half-cocked plans of revival have resulted in some worthy 21st-century developments.
We stood at a rest in the line, with guns half-cocked and bayonets fixed, momentarily awaiting the appearance of the foe.
Eleven days in the militia during the war of the rebellion | A MilitiamanYou are told this much of the truth so that you won't go off half-cocked with a fine collection of rather dangerous untruths.
The Fourth R | George Oliver SmithThe burghers gazed at it for a time in silent awe, as a wary housewife does at a gun, fearful it may go off half-cocked.
Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete | Washington Irving
Tempers will go off half-cocked even among men of good habit.
The Armed Forces Officer | U. S. Department of DefenseThoroughness is the way of duty, rather than a speed which goes off half-cocked.
The Armed Forces Officer | U. S. Department of Defense
British Dictionary definitions for half-cocked
(of a firearm) at half-cock
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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