off and on

• “He bayed through that night like one of his coon dogs and then off and on periodically for the next several days.”

  Cold Mountain

• “From La Rabida now you can no longer see, as Columbus saw, fleets of caravels lying-to and standing off and on outside the bar waiting for the flood tide; only a few poor boats fishing for tunny in the empty sunny waters, or the smoke of a steamer standing on her course for the Guadalquiver or Cadiz.”

  Christopher Columbus

• “In the morning we all walked as though we were walking on egg shells, being given oxygen off and on … We took off for the Norbu-Linka Park Pearl Park, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama, 360,000 square meters, built by the 7th Dalai Lama in 1755.”

  Simon & Schuster: Barbara Bush

• “By some estimates the Rwandan army, which has occupied parts of the Congo off and on for the last decade, made $500 million just between April 2007 and October 2008 on Congolese coltan.103 And, of course, the corporations selling all these coltan-containing products are making massive profit too, with most investing far more in advertising the latest gadget than in ending the trail of violence that too often follows this metal.”

  Simon & Schuster: THE STORY OF STUFF

• “If there is any merit in my desultory writings, having been a scribbler off and on through life, it consists in thorough conviction and pointedness of expression.”

  Recollections and reflections : an auto of half a century and more,

• “Syce hung off and on and watched her make a pass with a lever at her tyre.”

  Scales of Justice

• “Mary had dreamed off and on for the past ten years what it would be like to make love to Graham, Deacon Peters, despite the fact he was happily married to Amanda.”

  Simon & Schuster: A Love So Deep

• “Tina Zander, who Vic had dated/toyed with off and on since eighth grade, had walked in moments before, and she watched the hand-approaching-my-ass move carefully.”

  Simon & Schuster: Kiss It

• “Hubin, who has made a greater contribution to mystery scholarship in the past 35 years than any other individual, swears the latest edition will be the last, at least compiled by him, but he is already offering addenda to it in a recently revived fanzine that has been published off and on since 1974.”

  Fictionaut: Nutrition

• “I had made a bet that Tall Bull would beat the Second Cavalry horse around a one mile track, and, during the time that he was running, I would jump off and on the horse eight times.”

  The Life of Hon William F Cody

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