Going off at half-cock means doing something in a rushed, poorly prepared, or half-hearted way — like charging into a situation before you've thought it through. In British English it's a classic phrase for plans that flop because someone skipped the preparation. It also describes someone who commits to something but never quite goes all in. If your project launch bombed because nobody tested anything, that's textbook half-cock territory.
They went off at half-cock with the product launch — no beta testers, no PR plan, just vibes.
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(UK) Not with full vigour, half-heartedly.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.