slowly

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slowly but surely

At a slow or incremental pace but making steady, dependable progress. I've been writing my thesis slowly but surely—it will probably take me all year to finish it, but it's getting there! A: "Hey, how's the new novel coming along?" B: "Ah, slowly but surely!"

make haste slowly

Proceed quickly, yet carefully. I know you're late for work, but make haste slowly so you don't end up in an accident.

slow but sure

Slow or incremental but yielding steady, dependable progress. It's going to be slow but sure writing my thesis, as I have to balance my part-time job with my research. A: "Hey, how's the new novel coming along?" B: "It's been slow but sure."

See also: but, slow, sure

twist in the wind

To have been left in a very difficult, troublesome, or problematic situation, often to receive punishment or blame. "Slowly" can be added between "twist" and "in" for further emphasis. You really left us twisting in the wind when you decided to take your vacation right before the project's deadline! The government's sudden decision not to continue funding the program has left many residents twisting in the wind.

See also: twist, wind

make haste

To move, speak, or act quickly, especially when one was being too slow before. Often said as a command. We'll need to make haste if we're going to catch that train! Make haste, Jonathan, I need that report ASAP!

mills of the gods grind slowly(, but they grind exceedingly fine)

Destiny will deliver an outcome that is correct, just, and inevitable, though it may take a long time to come to be. It was a disheartening verdict, to be sure, but we aren't losing hope for a successful outcome eventually. The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. Mills of the gods grind slowly, and we've been making slow but steady progress in this country over the last three decades, but it seems lately that those mills have sputtered to a halt.

See also: but, exceedingly, god, grind, mill, of

the mills of God grind slowly(, but they grind exceedingly fine)

Destiny will deliver an outcome that is correct, just, and inevitable, though it may take a long time to come to be. It was a disheartening verdict, to be sure, but we aren't losing hope for a successful outcome eventually. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. The mills of God grind slowly, and we've been making slow but steady progress in this country over the last three decades, but it seems like those mills have sputtered to a halt lately.

See also: but, exceedingly, god, grind, mill, of

Make haste slowly,

and More haste, less speed.

Prov. Act quickly, but not so quickly that you make careless mistakes. Jane: Why are you throwing your clothes around the room? Alan: You told me to get my things packed in a hurry. Jane: Yes, but make haste slowly; otherwise we'll have to spend an hour cleaning up the mess you make. I know you want to finish that sweater by Joe's birthday, but you're knitting so fast that you make mistakes. More haste, less speed.

mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small

Prov. It may take a long time, but evil will always be punished. Jill: It really doesn't seem right that Fred can be so horrible and dishonest, but he always gets everything he wants. Jane: Be patient. The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.

See also: god, grind, mill, of, small, yet

slow but sure

and slowly but surely

slow but unstoppable. Bob's progress on his novel was slow but sure. Nancy is finishing the paint job on her house, slowly but surely.

See also: but, slow, sure

twist(slowly) in the wind

Fig. to suffer the agony of some humiliation or punishment. (Alludes to an execution by hanging.) I'll seeyou twist in the wind for trying to frustrate this investigation. The prosecutor was determined that Richard would twist slowly in the wind for the crime.

See also: twist, wind

make haste

Also, make it snappy. Hurry up, move or act quickly, as in If you don't make haste we'll be late, or Make it snappy, kids. The first expression was first recorded in Miles Coverdale's 1535 translation of the Bible (Psalms 39:13): "Make haste, O Lord, to help me." The variant dates from the early 1900s and uses snappy in the sense of "resembling a sudden jerk." The oxymoron make haste slowly, dating from the mid-1700s, is a translation of the Latin festina lente. It is used either ironically, to slow someone down (as in You'll do better if you make haste slowly), or to comment sarcastically on a lack of progress (as in So far the committee has been making haste slowly).

mills of the gods grind slowly

One's destiny is inevitable even if it takes considerable time to arrive. For example, I'm sure he'll be wealthy one day, though the mills of the gods grind slowly. This expression comes from ancient Greek, translated as "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small." In English it appeared in George Herbert's Jacula Prudentum (1640) as "God's mill grinds slow but sure."

slow but sure

Gradual or plodding but certain to finish, as in Slow but sure this book's getting written. This idiom was first recorded in 1562, although the idea is much older. A related phrase appears in the proverb slow and steady wins the race, which is the moral of Aesop's fable about the race between a tortoise and a hare, which stopped to nap during the race and therefore lost.

See also: but, slow, sure

twist in the wind

Be abandoned to a bad situation, especially be left to incur blame, as in The governor denied knowing it was illegal and left his aide to twist in the wind. It is also put as leave twisting in the wind, meaning "abandon or strand in a difficult situation," as in Sensing a public relations disaster, the President left the Vice-President twisting in the wind . This expression, at first applied to a President's nominees who faced opposition and were abandoned by the President, alludes to the corpse of a hanged man left dangling and twisting in the open air. [Slang; early 1970s] Also see out on a limb.

See also: twist, wind

twist in the wind

swing in the wind

If someone twists in the wind or swings in the wind, they are in a difficult situation that they cannot control for a long period, usually because of something that someone else has done. The court case that had been planned to start in April 2004 was abandoned, leaving the parents concerned twisting in the wind. Note: You can also say that someone swings in the wind. Critics accused the Prime Minister of leaving the minister swinging in the wind and insist that he should back him or sack him. Note: Other verbs such as hang or turn are sometimes used instead of twist and swing. `I didn't want to leave them hanging in the wind,' Johnson said of his team-mates.

See also: twist, wind

slow but (or and) sure

not quick but achieving the required result eventually. proverb

See also: but, slow, sure

twist in the wind

be left in a state of suspense or uncertainty.

See also: twist, wind

ˌeasy/ˌgently/ˌslowly ˈdoes it

(informal) used for telling somebody to be careful, calm, etc: Easy does it! Just lift it a little bit and I think it’ll go through the door.

slowly but ˈsurely

used for describing definite but slow progress in something: Attitudes to women at work are changing slowly but surely.

ˈtwist in the wind

(especially American English) be in a bad, difficult or uncertain situation particularly one in which you receive the blame for something: When the scandal broke, his business partners left him to twist in the wind. ♢ The government left people twisting in the wind (= not sure what would happen to them).

See also: twist, wind

twist (slowly) in the wind

in. to suffer the agony of some punishment, powerless to do anything about it, as if one had been hanged. (Figurative only.) I’ll see you twist in the wind for trying to frustrate this investigation.

twist in the wind

verb

See twist slowly in the wind

See also: twist, wind

make haste

To move or act swiftly; hurry.

mills of the gods grind slowly, the

One’s destiny or one’s deserved fate may not come fast, but it will arrive eventually. The earliest instance of this expression is attributed to the third-century Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus, who was quoting another poet when he said, “The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small.” Later it was put as, “God’s mill grinds slow but sure” (George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1640), and still later Longfellow, translating a German poet, said they “grind exceeding small.”

slow but sure

Plodding but reliable. This proverbial term dates from the early seventeenth century, and the idea is as old as Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare. “This snail’s slow but sure,” wrote John Marston in his 1606 play The Fawn (3:1).

See also: but, slow, sure

References in classic literature ?

Bradley tossed him another bit of dried meat, waiting patiently until he had eaten it, this time more slowly.

As he descended thus slowly, the ladder seemed interminable and the pit bottomless, yet he realized when at last he reached the bottom that he could not have descended more than fifty feet.

Holding his haversack above his head with one hand he lowered his feet slowly over the edge of the narrow platform.

Though he advanced very slowly, he tried always to take steps of about the same length; so that he knew that though considerable time had elapsed, yet he had really advanced no more than four hundred yards when ahead he saw a lessening of the pitch-darkness, and at the next turn of the stream his surroundings became vaguelydiscernible.

He saw a Wieroo flap dismally above him; he saw the banks of the stream float slowly past; he heard a sudden wail upon the right-hand shore, and his heart stood still lest his ruse had been discovered; but never by a move of a muscle did he betray that aught but a cold lump of clay floated there upon the bosom of the water, and soon, though it seemed an eternity to him, the direct sunlight was blotted out, and he knew that he had entered beneath the temple.

The girl's side was toward Bradley, and her face averted, for she was watching the Wieroo, who was now advancing slowly toward her, talking as he came.

He did not dare intervene now until one of the Wieroo had overcome the other, lest the two should turn upon him at once, when the chances were fair that he would be defeated in so unequal a battle as the curved blade of the red Wieroo would render it, and so he waited, watching the white-robed figure slowly choking the life from him of the red robe.

View in context

As the differences slowly become greater, the inferior animals with intermediate characters, being neither very swift nor very strong, will have been neglected, and will have tended to disappear.

View in context

Agnes saw that look; saw the eyelids of the living woman open slowly like the eyelids of the dead; saw her rise, as if in obedience to some silent command--and saw no more.

View in context

Inhale, tuck your chin in towards your chest and as you exhale, slowly curl your body forward bringing your forehead to the front of your knees.

Bikram yoga: heating up a cold winter: explore the origins of this hot trend with Eric Benvenue-Jennings

Pause momentarily at the mid-range position, and then slowly (approximately three seconds) return to the starting position.

Target training: the Neck. (Powerline 2002)

Move slowly and mindfully, remember to breathe comfortably and release all tension; check in with your shoulders, neck, mouth and eyes.

Yoga for runners

Only recently have Kiesler's thoughts on space begun, slowly but surely, to influence members of architecture's current avant-garde.

Rooms to Roam

Central to the success of the work was the ingenious, ever-changing set, a small caravan fitted out with tied fabrics and fir branches that revolved slowly for the entire piece, coming full circle by the dance's end.

LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIPS

On the out-breath scoop the stomach in and slowly roll the back of the pelvis off the floor just a couple of inches.