half
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /hɑːf/
ipa: /haːf/
ipa: /hɐːf/
rhymes: -ɑːf
ipa: /hæf/
note: New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
ipa: /hɛəf/
ipa: /haf/
rhymes: -æf
Forms: form: halves
form: 'arf
form: ha'f
form: halfe
Etymology: From Middle English half, halfe from Old English healf (“half”); as a noun, 'half', 'side', 'part', from Proto-West Germanic *halb, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz.
Cognates
Cognate with Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old Dutch half, West Frisian heal, Dutch half, German halb, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian halv, Icelandic hálfur and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs). Compare halve, behalf.
Senses: examples: text: I ate the smaller half of the apple.
text: You don’t know the half of it.
text: Of the passengers on the plane, half were English.
text: The cake was delicious: half was vanilla and half was chocolate.
text: Half (of) my friends live abroad.
text: I’ve bought some chocolate. You can have half.
text: One and a half miles equals a mile and a half.
text: Not half his riches known, and yet despised.
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: I and he, / Brothers in Art; a friendship so complete / Portion'd in halves between us, […]
ref: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Gardener’s Daughter; or, The Pictures”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 19:
text: Both halves feature lyrics that are so teen-girly they sound like they were written in pink ink in a padlocked diary with hearts and frowny faces for punctuation.
ref: 2016 March 24, Darryl Sterdan, “ZAYN’s ‘Mind of Mine’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘This is What the Truth Feels Like’ top this week’s new music”, in The Toronto Star, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2018:
text: The Biden administration finalized the first national standard to limit dangerous “forever chemicals” found in nearly half of the drinking water in the United States.
ref: 2024 April 10, Jen Christiensen, “Biden administration sets first national standard to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water”, in CNN:
glosses: One of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.
examples: text: An association football match usually consists of two halves of 45 minutes each.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: One of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.
One of two equal periods into which a game is divided.
coordinate_terms: quarter
examples: text: However, the hosts hit back and hit back hard, first replacement hooker Andrew Hore sliding over, then Williams careering out of his own half and leaving several defenders for dead before flipping the ball to Nonu to finish off a scintillating move.
ref: 2011 September 16, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: New Zealand 83-7 Japan”, in BBC Sport:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: One of two usually roughly equal parts into which anything may be divided, or considered as divided.
One of the two opposite parts of the playing field of various sports, in which each starts the game.
examples: text: He came back with a pint of Guinness for me and a half of bitter for Wendy.
ref: 1968, John Braine, The Crying Game, Houghton Mifflin, page 11:
text: I accepted a half of bitter from him.
ref: 1974, James Herriot, All Things Bright and Beautiful, St. Martin's Press,, →ISBN:
text: I went to the bar where I bought a pint and two large brandies. ... "Not brandy," she replied, "but I could use a long drink - maybe a half of lager."
ref: 2006, Bill Appleton, Wide Boy, Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie, →ISBN, page 168:
glosses: Half of a standard measure, chiefly:
half a pint of beer or cider. (Refusing a pint) Just a half, thank you. (Offering to top up a pint glass) Do you want a half in that? (Minimizing the amount of drink taken) A swift half at the Pear Tree.
examples: text: Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four.
ref: 1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 81:
glosses: Half of a standard measure, chiefly:
A barrel measure of 27 gallons (half a hogshead).
qualifier: liquor trade
examples: text: Three-quarters minus a quarter is a half.
synonyms: ½
qualifier: preceded by “a” or a number
glosses: The fraction obtained by dividing 1 by 2.
glosses: Any of the three terms at Eton College, for Michaelmas, Lent, and summer.
examples: text: So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father.
ref: 2016, Robert M. Herzog, A World Between:
glosses: A half sibling.
glosses: A child ticket. Two and a half to Paddington.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: abbreviated form for half marathon.
examples: text: Tonight, we're offering the last of the Walking Liberty Halves for awhile:^([sic])
ref: 2002 August 15, Fred A. Murphy, “FA: Last of the Walkers”, in rec.collecting.coins (Usenet), retrieved 03 Jan 2023:
qualifier: numismatic slang
glosses: Clipping of half-dollar.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: ain't half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: and a half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: better half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: by halves
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: call it half a day
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: cry halves
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: fly-half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: fly half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: go halves
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half a brain
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half a chance
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half-a-dollar
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half a grunter
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half a head
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half a loaf is better than none
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half and half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half-cock
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half sole
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half-solid
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: half-world
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: hell and half of Georgia
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: how the other half lives
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: in half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: in one's half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: know the half of
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: left-half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: not half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: not half bad
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: one and a half syndrome
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: one-half crosswise
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: one-half lengthwise
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: other half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: right-half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: scrum half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: scrum-half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: second half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: seven and a half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: sharp-and-a-half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: shelter half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: swift half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: take one's half out of the middle
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: the half of it
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: time and a half
sense: Terms derived from half (noun)
word: too clever by half