boom or bust

boom or bust (plural booms or busts)

1. Alternative form of boom and bust, a pattern of great prosperity followed by recession
   • 1911, Albert Bull, Sound Business, page 142:

     I don't know if it would work out that way, but I know the grocery store would “boom or bust.”

   • 1941, Blair Moody, Boom or Bust, page 317:

     After the war, it will be boom or bust! The United States kept laissez-faire too long and it let us drift into a precarious predicament.

boom or bust (comparative more boom or bust, superlative most boom or bust)

1. Alternative form of boom-and-bust, featuring or characterized by a boom and bust cycle
   • 1970, “Problems of Capacity, Pulping Processes, Computerization”, in American Paper Industry, volume 52, page 33:

     Our industry has always been a “boom or bust” industry, with a plus or minus 5% swing being the difference between boom and bust.