drips and drabs
Tiny intermittent portions
Small, irregular amounts arriving intermittently rather than all at once.
The phrase emphasizes inadequacy or frustration with piecemeal delivery: Information came in drips and drabs.
Often used when someone wishes the whole thing would arrive together: We're getting paid in drips and drabs instead of one lump sum.
Also appears as dribs and drabs.
- trickleThin, slow stream
- dribbleLeak in drops
- leakEscape through a breach
- piecemealIn separate stages
- odds and endsMiscellaneous small items
drop by drop · bit by bit · seepage · ooze · drop · incremental · little by little · bit · intermittent · morsels · sporadic · now and then · inch by inch · piece by piece · fits and starts · here and there · few and far between · smidgen