▪ I. halve, v.
(hɑːv)
Forms: 4–6 halfe, 5–8 half, 4– halve.
[ME. halfen, halven f. half n.]
1. trans. To divide into two halves or equal parts; to share equally; to deal out, take, or complete the half of; to reduce to half.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter liv. 24 Man-slaer and swykel his dayes halfe sal. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1246 What I have, I wole it with you halve. 1483 Cath. Angl. 170/2 To Halfe, mediare, dimidiare. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 39 Not trobled, mangled, and halfed, but sounde, whole, full, and hable to do their office. 1641 W. Bray Sermon 23 The Church of Rome..halfes out to them an imperfect Sacrament. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. App. lxxxi, Not lightened entire, But halfed like the Moon. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 54 The setting off..being halfed. 1789 Coleridge Philedon Poems I. 5 The fervid Sun had more than halved the day. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 5 These quantities might..in most cases be halved. |
| fig. 1638 Wotton Lett., Rem. (L.), Our Nicholas, for I account him at least halfed between us, tells me that [etc.]. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 59 Power that sinks and pettiness that soars, all halved and nothing whole. |
† b. To attain or amount to the half of. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Ps. liv. 24 [lv. 23] Men of blodis and treccherous shul not haluen ther daȝes. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xv. 775 There is a manere wylde oxe that..in eyther of hys hornes may halfe the mesure that hyghte Boz. |
2. Carpentry. To fit (timbers) together by halving, q.v. Also intr. for pass.
| 1804 Trans. Soc. Arts XXII. 43 An upright bar, with the horizontal bars halved into it. 1851 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. 159 The ends notched out so as to halve into each other. |
3. In Golf, to halve a hole (with another), to reach it in the same number of strokes. Also, to halve a round, a match.
| 1857 Chambers' Inform. II. 693/1 When players are very equally matched, neither party has, at the close of a day's play, gained an advantage; every round has been halved, hence the match itself is halved, and remains to be played another day. 1894 Daily News 23 Apr. 2/5 They ultimately halved the match. 1894 Times 28 Apr. 13/3 Both players reached the green in 3, and the hole was halved in 5. |
† 4. intr. To render half service or obedience.
| 1566 R. Ascham Divæ Elizab. Wks. (1761) 183 Saul, first halfing with God, (as when God gave Amalec into his hand) then halting in religion. 1613–80 [see halving vbl. n.1 i b]. |
Hence halved (hɑːvd), halving, ppl. adjs.
| 1619 W. Sclater Exp. 1 Thess. (1630) 439 A mangled and halfed Decree of God. 1641 ‘Smectymnuus’ Vind. Answ. vi. 84 This you call a faithlesse and a halved citation. 1815 J. Gilchrist Labyrinth Demol. 41 Suited only to halfing and crooked thinkers. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 24 Apr. 7/2 After a halved match. |
▪ II. halve
obs. form of half n.