Etymology

Anglo Saxon healf , half, half; as a noun, half, side, part; akin to Old Saxon, Old Friesian, and Dutch half, German halb , Swedish half, Danish halv , Icelandic hālfr , Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs). Compare halve, behalf

Adjective

1. Consisting of a moiety, or half; as, a half bushel; a half hour; a half dollar; a half view

   Note: The adjective and noun are often united to form a compound.

2. Consisting of some indefinite portion resembling a half; approximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect; as, a half dream; half knowledge.

   Quotations

   • Assumed from thence a half consent. - Tennyson

Derived expressions

• Half ape, (Zoölogy): a lemur
• Half back, (Football): See under 2d back
• Half bent: the first notch, for the sear point to enter, in the tumbler of a gunlock; the halfcock notch
• Half binding: a style of bookbinding in which only the back and corners are in leather
• Half boarder: one who boards in part; specifically, a scholar at a boarding school who takes dinner only
• Half-breadth plan, (Shipbuilding): a horizontal plan of the half a vessel, divided lengthwise, showing the lines
• Half cadence, (Music): a cadence on the dominant
• Half cap, (Obsolete): a slight salute with the cap. - Shakespeare
• A half cock: the position of the cock of a gun when retained by the first notch
• half cocked: or halfcocked: unprepared, lacking forethought; -- as in go off half cocked
• Half hitch: a sailor's knot in a rope; half of a clove hitch
• Half hose: short stockings; socks
• Half measure: an imperfect or weak line of action
• Half note, (Music): a minim, one half of a semibreve
• Half page half of a single page, of a book.
• Half pay: half of the wages or salary; reduced pay; as, an officer on half pay
• Half price: half the ordinary price; or a price much reduced
• Half round
  • (Architecture): A molding of semicircular section
  • (Mechanical): Having one side flat and the other rounded; -- said of a file
• Half shift, (Music); a position of the hand, between the open position and the first shift, in playing on the violin and kindred instruments. See shift
• Half step, (Music): a semitone; the smallest difference of pitch or interval, used in music
• Half tide: the time or state of the tide equally distant from ebb and flood
• Half time: half the ordinary time for work or attendance; as, the half-time system
• Half tint, (Fine Arts): a middle or intermediate tint, as in drawing or painting. See demitint
• Half truth: a statement only partially true, or which gives only a part of the truth. - Mrs. Browning
• Half year, the space of six months; one term of a school when there are two terms in a year.

Adverb

1. In an equal part or degree; in some pa appromating a half; partially; imperfectly; as, half-colored, half done, half-hearted, half persuaded, half conscious.

   Quotations

   • Half loth and half consenting. - Dryden
   • Their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod. - Nehemiah 13:24

Noun

Plural: halves

1. (Obsolete): Part; side; behalf - Wyclif

   Quotations

   • The four halves of the house - Chaucer

2. One of two equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided; -- sometimes followed by of; as, a half of an apple.

   Quotations

   • Not half his riches known, and yet despised. - Milton
   • A friendship so complete Portioned in halves between us - Tennyson

Derived expressions

• Better half. See under better
• In half, in two; (Colloquial): an expression sometimes used improperly instead of in or into halves; as, to cut in half. - Dickens
• (Obsolete): In, or on, one's half: in one's behalf; on one's part
• To cry halves, to claim an equal share with another
• To go halves, to share equally between two.

Transitive verb

1. (Obsolete): To halve. - Sir H. Wotton

Translations

• Bulgarian: половина
• Japanese: 半分 (はんぶん, hanbun)
• Romanian: jumătate
• Sasxsek: tufim