be (either) feast or famine
To be characterized by either an excess or a dearth of something. The team won their first six games handily, and now they've lost seven in a row. I swear, it's either feast or famine with these guys! Freelance work always seems to be feast or famine, unfortunately—either you have too many projects to stay on top of, or barely enough to get by. The economies of these coastal towns are feast or famine, propped up entirely by tourists who only come in the warmer months of the year.
either feast or famine
Describing a situation in which there is either an excess or a dearth of something. Freelance work always seems to be either feast or famine, unfortunately—either you have too many projects to stay on top of, or barely enough to get by. The team won their first six games handily, and now they've lost seven in a row. I swear, it's either feast or famine with these guys! These coastal towns have economies that are propped up entirely by tourists, making things either feast or famine depending on the time of year.
feast or famine
Describing a situation in which there is either an excess or a dearth of something. Freelance work always seems to be feast or famine, unfortunately—either you have too many projects to stay on top of, or barely enough to get by. The team won their first six games handily, and now they've lost seven in a row. I swear, it's always a case of feast or famine with these guys! These coastal towns have feast-or-famine economies that are propped up entirely by tourism in the warmer months of the year.
neither feast nor famine
Describing a situation in which there is a moderate amount (of something) rather than an excess or a dearth. Working in this line of construction is neither feast nor famine. The jobs don't usually pay a lot, but there's never a shortage of people looking to have work done on their property.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
*(either) feast or famine
Fig. either too much (of something) or not enough (of something). (*Typically: be ~; have ~.) This month is very dry, and last month it rained almost every day. Our weather is either feast or famine. Sometimes we are busy, and sometimes we have nothing to do. It's feast or famine.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
feast or famine
Also, either feast or famine. Either too much or too little, too many or too few. For example, Free-lancers generally find it's feast or famine-too many assignments or too few, or Yesterday two hundred showed up at the fair, today two dozen-it's either feast or famine . This expression, which transfers an overabundance or shortage of food to numerous other undertakings, was first recorded in 1732 as feast or fast, the noun famine being substituted in the early 1900s.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
feast or famine
If someone describes a situation as feast or famine, they mean that there is always either too much or too little of something. Money is a problem. `It's feast or famine with me,' she says. Note: People often vary this expression. This new series is a feast in what is otherwise a famine of intelligent television. After a long famine, a mini-feast: investors are once again providing banks with the capital they need.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
feast or famine
either too much of something or too little.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
feast or famine
Either an overabundance or a shortage. This expression originated as either feast or fast, which is how it appeared in Thomas Fuller’s Gnomologia (1732) and still survived in 1912 (“Dock labour has been graphically described as ‘either a feast or a fast,’” London Daily Telegraph). In America, famine was substituted sometime during the twentieth century. The term is still frequently applied to alternating overabundance and shortages of work, as is often the case for freelancers, seasonal laborers, and the like.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer