▪ I. half, n.
(hɑːf)
Forms: 1– half; also 1 healf, (halb), 2–3 alf, (3 hælf, Orm. hallf, elf, 4 helf, helue), 4–5 halue, 4–7 halfe, (6–7 haulf(e, hafe). pl. 4– halves (hɑːvz): also 4 halfis, 5–7 -es, (6 hawves), 7–8 halfs.
[A Com. Teut. n.: OE. healf fem. = OS. halƀa (MDu., MLG. halve), OHG. halba (MHG. halbe), ON. halfa (hálfa), Goth. halba side, half: see half a. The oldest sense in all the langs. is ‘side’.]
I. † 1. Side; one of the (two) sides (of an object) as a specification of position or direction; the right or left side, the right or left ‘hand’ (of any one); the direction indicated by the side or hand. Obs.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 51 Altrinsecus, an ba halbae [Erf. halbe, Corp. halfe]. 805 Charter in O.E. Texts (1885) 442 On nænᵹe oðre halfe. 862 Ibid. 438 An easthalfe. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 21 Sittan, an on þine swiðran healfe, and an on þine wynstran. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 262 On þa healfe þe þæt sar biþ. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 338/8 Altrinsecus, on twa healfa. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 67 He shodeð þe rihtwise an his rihthalue. c 1205 Lay. 14018 A þas hælf þere Humbre. c 1340 Cursor M. 6263 (Fairf.) Þe see on ayþer half ham stode as ij. wallis. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 7 ‘Loke on þe lufthond’, quod heo, ‘and seo wher [he] stondeþ’..I lokede on þe luft half, as þe ladi me tauhte. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 150 Thai on twa halfis war assalit. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 882 Þan laid he on þe Sarsyns wykke faste be euery helue. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1353 Thai soght into the Cite vpon sere haluys. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 4 §1 On this halfe the fest of Ester. 1532 More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 805/1 Then thou shalte see me on the backe halfe. [1600 Fairfax Tasso ix. lxxiv. 174 The purple morning peeped ore The eastren threshold, to our halfe of land.] |
† 2. fig. a. One of the opposite sides in a conflict, of the opposite sexes in descent, etc.
Obs.| a 885 Will of Alfred in Earle Land Charters 148 Min yldra fæder hæfde ᵹecweden his land on ða sperehealfe, næs on ða spinlhealfe. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 217 Þe compaynye aþes half muche aneþered was. Ibid. 325 He was, in hys moder alf, Seynt Edwardes broþer. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 248 Þe Jewis seide þat Crist was not on Goddis halfe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13474 His beayell..On his modur halfe. 1563 Dolman in Mirr. Mag., Hastings lxxviii. 2 On princes halves the myghty god doth fyght. |
† b. Side, part (as of one of the parties to a transaction).
on (in, by) the half of: on the part of, as far as concerns, with respect to.
on this half: in regard or respect of this, on this account.
Obs.| 1068 Charter Will. I in Eng. Hist. Rev. Oct. (1896) 741 And þær-to eake on minre healfe ic heom ᵹeaf and ᵹeuþe..þæt land. c 1230 Hali Meid. 7 Nu þenne on oðer half nim þe to þe worlde. 13.. Coer. de L. 3302 In myne halff, I graunt the foreward. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 917 (945) It shal not lakke, certeyn, on myn halve. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxiii. 199 In that other halfe it was founde by an Enquest..that [etc.]. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1032, I am so occupied On this half, & on every syde. |
† c. Hence
on (in) the half of: on the part of, in the name of, as the agent or representative of, for, instead of, on or in behalf of.
Obs.| c 1200 Ormin 2830 Þatt word..þurrh Gabriæl Wass seȝȝd o Godess hallfe. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 144 Ber him þis ring On mine halue to tokning. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 99 Send hem boþe on þyn helf. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxlix. 129 We amonest yow fyrst in the popes half, that [etc.]. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 414/1 He would fayne haue his false translacion..sayde and songen a goddes halfe. |
† d. on God's half: in God's name, for God's sake; used to add emphasis to a petition, command, or expression of consent or resignation.
Obs.| a 1225 Ancr. R. 22 Hwo se mei stonden euer on vre Leafdi wurschipe, stonde a godes halue. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 561 He let hom go a Godes half. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 370 ‘A goddys halfe, in goode tyme!’ quod I. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 219 ‘Go we forthe, fader’, quod þe childe, ‘vpon goddes halfe!’ a 1529 Skelton El. Rummyng 501 She yelled lyke a calf, Rise up on God's half. |
II. 3. One of two opposite, corresponding, or equal parts into which a thing is or may be divided.
a. Of material objects, in which each half lies on one
side of the dividing line (thus connected with 1).
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark vi. 23 A half rices mines. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 3 Muche del of Engolond, þe on half al bi Weste. a 1300 Cursor M. 8715 (Cott.) Wit suerd it [child] sal be delt in tua And aiþer sal haune an half [Fairf. half, Gött., Trin. a side] in hand. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. x. 4 Hanun..shone of the one halue of their beerdes. 1623 Sanderson Serm. I. 89 Making as if he would cut the child into halfs, and give either of them one half. 1666 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 136 In the parting of it into halfes (as when our Hazle Nuts..part in the middle longwise). 1717 Frezier Voy. S. Sea 120 note, To unite the two Sides, or Halves of the Float. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. 182 A continuation of the sagittal-suture down the middle, dividing it into two equal halves. |
b. Of quantities or numbers, in which the half bears the same proportion to the whole as one of the halves of a material object, but all connexion with
side is lost; a moiety.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xix. 8 Heono half godra minra Drihten sello ic ðorfendum [Ags. Gosp. Nu. ic sylle ðearfum healfe mine æhta; Hatton G. half mine ehte]. 1297 R. Glouc (1724) 31 [Leir] ȝef hys twei doȝtren half, & half hym self nom. a 1300 Cursor M. 3999 Ar he þe half o þaa haa slayn. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxi. 464 Yf men had gyven hym the halve of all the worlde. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors iv. (1640) 47 They ascend not past the halfe of one mile in height. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 32 Ambition being the one half of the game. 1685 Gracian's Courtier's Orac. 157 And in that sense the ingenious Paradox is true: That the half is more than the whole. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 129 Of this number of whales, considerably above half have been taken by five ships now in the trade. Ibid. 223 One-half or three fourths of an inch thick. 1823 ― Whale Fishery 5 For sale..at one-half the cost prices. |
c. After a cardinal number, as
one{ddd}and a half.
(For the earlier mode of expressing this, see
half a. 2.)
| c 1290 Beket 14 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 107 To ȝeres and an half. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4554 Thre days and an half. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 46 A bolle pece þat weyyth vij ouunsus & halfe, and halfe a quarter. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 77 They must be set a foote and a halfe a sunder. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 157 An houre and a halfe after we are up. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 3 We took places in the Passage-Boat for Bruges, and at a League and halfs end came to a Lock. 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 11 For about three parts and a half of four in the Year. 1817 J. McLeod Voy. Alceste ii. (1820) 45 One of his attendants..received..about a dozen and a half blows with a flat bamboo. |
4. a. More vaguely: One of two divisions more or less approaching equality:
esp. with comparatives, as
the larger half or
better half.
† Formerly, sometimes, one of three or more divisions.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25046 Four halues o þis werld rond. 1340 Ayenb. 16 Ech of þe ilke zeuen [heauedes] him to-delþ ine uele halues. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13303 The more halfe of my men & my mayn shippis. 1580 etc. Better half [see better a. 3 b]. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 196 One halfe of the world knowes not how the other lives. 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 25 The top of it is hollow like the long half of an Egg. c 1730 Swift Direct. Servants Wks. 1778 X. 331 Swear..it broke into three halves. 1858 A. W. Drayton Sport. S. Africa 74 The better half of a chicken⁓pie. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. v. §55 The larger half of the phenomena. |
b. better half, a wife (or
† husband): see
better a. 3 c. Hence, humorously,
worser half.
| 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 388 These fair helpmates are as convivial..as their ‘worser halves’. |
† 5. One of two partners or co-sharers.
Obs. Cf. to go halves, 7
f.| 1520 Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 13 Wheder you wynne or lese, I wyll be your halfe. 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites 25 Master Iohn will you be halfe with me? 1595 Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. ii. 78 Bap. Sonne, Ile be your halfe, Bianca comes. Luc. Ile haue no halues: Ile beare it all my selfe. |
6. Elliptical uses of
half a., some
n. being omitted.
colloq. a. = Half-year. (Sometimes applied to a Term, after the new division of the school-year
c 1865).
b. = Half-boot.
c. = Half-pint, half-gill of spirits.
d. = Half-back (at Football:
cf. half- II. i.). Also in Rugby Union, Rugby League, etc.
Cf. fly-half (
fly n.2 8),
scrum-half.
e. = Half-mile (race); etc.
f. Golf. A hole or point which is halved.
g. In Old English prosody
= half-line (
half- II. n).
h. A half-holiday.
i. Ten shillings, half of {pstlg}1.
slang. j. A fare or ticket at a reduced (
usu. half) rate. Also
quasi-adv.| 1659 Willsford Scales Comm. ii. 29 Paving tyles..to all these pavements they make halfs, to close the work at the sides and ends. |
| a. 1820 Lewis Lett. (1870) 3 It..has completely stopped the boats for this half. 1875 A. R. Hope My Schoolboy Fr. 172 This half, all my friends had returned to Whitminster. 1876 World V. No. 109. 10 Since the school year has known the triple distribution into terms instead of the halves of our boyhood. |
| b. 1837 Dickens Pickw. x, There's two pair of halves in the commercial. |
| c. 1888 Scott. Leader 27 July 4 To sustain themselves in their public duty by resort to what is technically known as ‘a half’. 1891 Daily News 15 Apr. 7/1 I heard him call for two halves of ale and a cigar. |
| d. 1887 Shearman Athletics & Football (Badm. Libr.) 306 The best halves were strong thick-set men, rather under than over middle height. 1896 B. F. Robinson Rugby Football v. 90 The half ‘working’ the scrummage should rarely try to run him⁓self. 1897 Daily Chron. 16 Feb. 5/6 One change..occurs at half, where Mr. B. plays his first match for London. 1906 Gallaher & Stead Compl. Rugby Footballer iv. 64 A new line of attack and defence between the halves and the three-quarters. 1951 Men's Hockey (Know the Game Series) (1965) 17/2 At long corners..the halves go out behind them. 1960 E. S. & W. J. Higham High Speed Rugby vii. 55 Give me a good pair of halves and I will give you a team. |
| e. 1897 Whitaker's Alm. 635/1 The half, after a splendid race, was won by..King. |
| f. 1881 [see dead a. 21 b]. 1908 J. Braid Advanced Golf 213 Halves ought rarely to be agreed upon unless the balls are so close to the hole that it is next to impossible for the putts to be missed. 1931 Daily Tel. 22 May 18/1 He..secured the necessary 5 for the half and the match. 1959 Times 29 May 5/1 Sewell got a brave half at the 18th. |
| g. 1892 S. A. Brooke Hist. Early Eng. Lit. I. p. x, The Anglo-Saxon line is divided into two halves by a pause. The first half has two ‘measures’. 1940 J. R. R. Tolkien in J. R. C. Hall tr. Beowulf p. xxvii, The Old English line was composed of two opposed word-groups or ‘halves’. Each half was an example, or variation, of one of six basic patterns. |
| h. 1909 P. Traherne Diary Nov. (1918) i. 28 By getting up this entertainment on a ‘half’ when there was nothing else to do I found myself launched into about six rows. 1934 Neuphilol. Mitt. XXXV. 130 He will acquire prep⁓school slang (words such as..half ‘half holiday’). |
| i. 1931 W. F. Brown in Police Jrnl. IV. 502 They speiled first for stakes of a sprazey,..increasing it..later to a half... This narrative..would in plain English read..They played first for stakes of a sixpence..increasing..later to ten shillings. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock i. ii. 30 She's just a buer—he gave her a half. |
| j. 1935 Punch 30 Jan. 137 You two can't go half. You're over age. 1965 New Statesman 9 Apr. 567/2 Two adults and three halves, please. |
7. Phrases.
a. † at halves,
† to (the) half,
† to (the) halves: to the extent of a half
= half adv. 1 c; imperfectly, incompletely, by halves (
obs.). Also, in letting or hiring a house, land, or the like,
to (the) halves = so as to have a half-share in the profits (now
U.S.).
b. by halves: to the extent of a half only; imperfectly, in part; half-heartedly, with half zeal.
† c. half in half: half (to or by half) the total amount; cent per cent (
obs.).
d. in half or halves: into two (more or less) equal parts.
e. by half: by a great deal; much, considerably, far. Esp. in
phr. too clever by half: trying too hard to be clever.
f. to go halves (
cf. 5): to share equally (with a person).
g. to cry halves: to claim a half-share in what is found by another. (See also 2, 3.)
h. and a half (following a
n.): and more; of an exceptional kind.
Cf. heart n. 39 b.
colloq. i. the half of it: a significant or more important part of something. Usu. in negative contexts.
| a. 1547 Salesbury Welsh Dict., Hannery, to ye halfe. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 47 b, He may occupie it by his Bayliffe, or to hawves. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 105 Not at a rent certaine as we do in England, but to halfes, or to the thirds of all graine, fruit and profits, arising of the ground. 1647 W. Browne tr. Gomberville's Polexander I. 222 I see but at halfes. Ibid. 240 To be reveng'd at halfes. a 1673 Caryl in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. vi. 8 They do it not to halves, but thoroughly. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vi. 170 In Arphaxad..the great Age of the Ancients was cut to halves. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 115 Nor did I do this to the halves. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 104 It is usual..for the owners to let their Lands to halfs to their Tenants. 1866 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. ii. Introd. Poems 1890 II. 188 To the halves still survives among us, though apparently obsolete in England. It means either to let or hire a piece of land, receiving half the profit in money or in kind. |
| b. 1563–87 in Foxe A. & M. (K.O.) 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 6 Faint idle Artizans..Working by halfs. 1641 Symonds Serm. bef. Ho. Comm. E, Hitherto the work hath been done by the halfes. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. xiv. i. 343 Nadir, who did nothing by halves, was determined to pull off the mask. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 389 A king is not to be deposed by halves. 1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 86 Those charged with the responsibility..should not deal by halves with a question in which all classes have so deep an interest. |
| c. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 21 Gaining..more than halfe in halfe in euerie thing they buy or sell. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 179 The armie halfe in halfe in number and courage diminished. 1626 Bacon Sylva §371 By this means they will out-last other Candles of the same stuff, almost half in half. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. 57 The price is fallen half in half to what it was. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. iii, My father gained half-in-half, and consequently was as well again off. |
| d. 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner B viij b, First part them in halfes and cut out the Cores. 1706 S. Clarke Attrib. God viii. (R.), When a square cut in halves makes two triangles, those two triangles are still only the two halves of the square. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 714 Each by lightning riven in half. 1862 Cornh. Mag. June 723 The ball..swift enough to cut the middle stump in half. |
| e. [a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xii. 18 Healfe þy swetre.] ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2127 Thowe to hye arte by þe halfe, I hete þe in trouthe! 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol III.) 13 Shee is fayrer by one halfe than shee was before. 1658 Cokaine Trappolin i. i, 'Tis better by half than a soldier. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. iii, Pshaw! he is too moral by half. 1858 G. J. Whyte-Melville Interpreter xli, Too clever by half. 1889 W. Westall Birch Dene II. vi. 89 ‘Nobody can deny as he's clever.’ ‘Ay, too clever by half.’ 1944 L. MacNeice Christopher Columbus 8 Constant ingenuity..often leads to an appearance of being too clever by half. 1961 Listener 2 Nov. 717/1 A bad one [sc. documentary], whether dull through laziness, or self-conscious or pretentious or too-clever-by-half, can be a real catastrophe. |
| f. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. iii. 270 For those that save themselves, and fly, Go halves, at least, in th' Victory. 1752 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) III. cclxxxi. 291 If you think I shall win it, you may go my halves if you please. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxxvi, We would go halves, and share it equally. 1851–61 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 122 (Farmer) He'll then again ask if anybody will go him halves. a 1898 Mod. I will go halves with you. |
| g. 1659 Cleveland C. Revived 1 The devided Damme Runs to the Summons of her hungry Lamb, But when the twin cries Halves, she quits the first. 1730 Savage Horace to Scæva 32 (L.) And he, who sees you stoop to th' ground Cries, halves! to everything you've found. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Imperf. Sympathies, You cannot cry halves to anything that he finds. He does not find but bring. |
| h. 1636, etc. [see heart n. 39 b]. 1832 J. K. Paulding Westward Ho! II. i. 7 Bushfield, too, was here in all his glory, and was not only a whole team, but a team and a half, good measure, as he affirmed. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xlvi. 501, I rayther think the gov'ner vants to have a vord and a half vith you. 1911 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 118 Last night was paradise and a half. 1917 Strand Mag. LIII. 606/2 Golly! He took a toss and a half! 1959 ‘M. M. Kaye’ House of Shade x. 128 Roaring Rory must have been a hell-raiser and a half in his day. |
| i. 1932 Wodehouse Hot Water i. 27 It makes me sick. And that's not the half of it... She told me I've got to be American Ambassador to France. 1947 ‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder i. 2 ‘We've not seen the half of it yet,’ said the Messenger darkly. ‘The half of what?’ ‘You mark my words, sir. When peace comes, as you might say real peace, there'll be chay-oh in this country.’ 1966 M. Brewer Man against Fear xi. 117 ‘You haven't heard the half of it yet.’ I went on to tell him about the Carver Street ambush. 1971 M. Babson Cover-up Story x. 109 ‘How awful,’ she said... I nodded, without telling her she didn't know the half of it. |
8. Comb. a. attrib., as
half-share.
b. quasi-adv., as
half-partner,
half-sharer,
half-worker.
| 1586 T. B. La Primand. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 480 That which..maketh the will of his halfe-partner to be wholy his own. 1603 Dekker Wonderf. Yeare E iv, Downe she lights this half-sharer, but conueis him into a by-room. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. v. 2 Is there no way for Men to be, but Women Must be halfe-workers? 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. ii. viii. §2 The metayer is at least his landlord's partner, and a half-sharer in their joint gains. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. xxv, I presented him with a half-share in my boat. |
Add:
[II.] [3.] d. Sport. Either of the two equal periods of playing time into which a game of rugby, association football, etc. is divided.
| [1869 Bell's Life in London 17 Feb. 8/3 Guy's won the toss, and selected to have the wind in their favour for the first half of the game.] 1876 Athletic News 25 Nov. 3/1 The Hornets were rather overmatched in the first half. 1900 Daily Express 2 Oct. 8/4 The match resolved itself for the remainder of the first half into an exhibition of tall kicking on the part of the rival backs. 1919 Washington Star 28 Nov. 24/2 Jones of Hopkins saved his team many a yard in the opening half by some wonderful defensive work. 1947 Sporting Mirror 7 Nov. 8/1 For most of the first half and for long spells in the second it seemed that only one end of the field was in use. 1987 Grimsby Even. Tel. 29 Oct. 24 Barnet..were reduced to nine men in the second half after two men were sent off. |
e. Sport. Either of two equal areas of a field of play, extending from the half-way line to the goal line or equivalent boundary, and
usu. identified as containing the goal, etc. defended by a given team.
| [1876 Athletic News 16 Dec. 7/3 After half time..the game was carried on entirely in the Tutbury half of the ground, the Stoke backs being rarely, if ever, brought into play.] 1888 Manch. Guardian 9 Jan. 7/5 Williams made a splendid run into the visitors' half, and Roberts taking it to the line enabled Anderton to score a try. 1960 E. S. & W. J. Higham High Speed Rugby xiii. 157 Although they [sc. the receiving side] may start well within their own half, initiative, imagination, and accurate positional play can take them well into the opposition half of the field. 1982 R. Widdows Hamlyn Bk. Football 48/1 (caption) There seems little danger for Villa as Thijssen, still inside his own half, dwells on the ball, well watched and giving the defenders time to recover after their attack had broken down. |
[6.] k. In American Football, etc.:
= half-time n. 2. Freq. in
phr. at the half.
| 1937 Washington Star 25 Nov. 1/5 Maryland filled the air with passes, but failed to complete, Washington and Lee holding the ball in midfield at the half. 1947 World Government News Dec. 5 The Princeton University Chapter of UWF [sc. United World Federalists]..gave them a speech on world government by loud-speaker at the half. 1979 Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 1d/2 Pueblo led Sabino, 6–0, at half before coming apart in the final 24 minutes of play and losing, 25–6. 1987 Basketball Monthly Sept. 18/2 He and his teammates kept the Soviet squad at full stretch to hold a one-point lead at the half, 42–41. |
▪ II. half, a. (
hɑːf)
Forms: 1
healf,
hæalf, 1–
half; also 5
halve,
alfe,
halff, 5–7
halfe.
[Common Teut.: OE. healf, half = OFris, OS. (MDu., Du., LG.) half, OHG. and Ger. halb, ON. halfr, (Sw. half, Da. halv), Goth. halbs:—OTeut. *halƀoz; not known outside Teutonic. The appearance of ‘side’ as the oldest sense of half n. makes the original meaning of the adj. uncertain.] 1. Being one of the two equal parts into which a thing is or may be divided; forming a half or moiety.
a. immediately preceding the
n., and preceded by a defining word (demonstrative or possessive, genitive case, etc.), as
a half length,
his half share;
half sheet. See also
half-sheet s.v. half- II.
n. When the two words constitute a recognized unit or individual,
half is usually hyphened to the
n., as in
half-crown: see
half- II. The limits are necessarily undefined and vague, and the use of the hyphen is a matter of perspicuity in the particular connexion.
| 835 Charter in O.E. Texts 447, & him man selle an half swulung an ciollan dene. 859 in Earle Land Charters 130 An healf tun que ante pertinebat to wilburgewellan. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 298 Þrittiᵹ daᵹa & tyn tida & healfe tid. a 1056 Charter of Leofwine in Cod. Dipl. IV. 136 Leofwine..hæfð geboht healfe hide landes. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 31 Half oðer þridde lot. c 1205 Lay. 18971 Half hundred cnihten. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 267 Ich pynchede on hus half acre. 1535 Coverdale Josh. xii. 6 Vnto the Rubenites, Gaddites and to the halfe trybe of Manasse. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 9 ¶1 The Town has this half Age been tormented with Insects called Easie Writers. 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confect. Dict. 261c Lay every Cutlet on a half Sheet of Paper. 1828 Hutton Course Math. II. 84 The number of half bricks in the thickness. 1852 E. Ruskin Let. 17 Apr. in M. Lutyens Effie in Venice (1965) ii. 296, I was very grateful for..Papa's half sheet about the Ruskins. 1865–6 H. Phillips Amer. Paper Curr. II. 148 In five or six weeks the army was on half allowance. 1897 Bookman Jan. 122/2 A smudged half sheet of paper. |
b. separated from the
n. by demonstrative or defining words, as
half the length,
half my family. (Formerly sometimes following the
n.)
The
adj. character of
half appears in
OE. and early
ME. by its inflexion; in
mod. use it is sometimes viewed as a
n. with
of suppressed, as in ‘half (half of, one half of) the men were sick, a quarter or a third of them seriously ill’:
cf. also
quot. 1667.
| a 1000 Judith 105 (Gr.) Heo healfne forcearf þone sweoran him. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 78 ᵹenim healfe þa sealfe. c 1205 Lay. 22441 Halfe þa steden, & halfe þa iweden. Ibid. 31814 He brohte ham halue his oxen. a 1300 Cursor M. 13147 Þof þou ask half mi king-rike. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 324 Half a shef of arwes. a 1400 Chaucer Balade of Compleynt 2 Compleyne..might myn herte never My peynes halve. 1486 Bk. St. Albans B viij, The space of alfe a quarter of an howre. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 236 b, Halfe the charges, and halfe the wages of his souldiers. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 559 Scarce the Sun Hath finisht half his journey, and scarce begins His other half in the great Zone of Heav'n. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 104 He lost half his men. 1820 Shelley To a Skylark 101 Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know. 1823 Byron Juan x. lxiv, The..wind blew half a gale. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 612 His victory..had deprived him of half his influence. 1849 [see battle n. 4]. 1864 Trollope Can you forgive Her? I. xxxviii. 301 If you are half the woman that I take you to be, you will understand this. 1867 ― Claverings I. iii. 38 Though the lord might be only half a man, Julia walked out from the church every inch a countess. 1936 Discovery Dec. 397/2 The author has undoubtedly the gift of winning the confidence of his African hosts, which is half the battle. 1944 Living off Land i. 15 The correct mental approach to a lesson is often half the battle. |
c. esp. with
ns. denoting numbers, quantities, measures of weight, space, time, or money, as
half a dozen,
half a bushel,
half a pound,
half a foot,
half an hour,
half a crown. Also
half a bar (see
bar n.1 3 c);
half a bull [
bull n.1 7], half a crown (
slang).
When these are viewed as independent numbers, amounts, coins, etc., half is preceded by
a,
the, etc. and hyphened to the
n., as
a half-dozen,
the half-bushel,
his half-pound,
a long half-hour,
a bad half-crown: see
half- II.
A half-crown is the former silver coin worth 2
s. 6
d.;
half a crown included the equivalent amount in any coins,
e.g. in five sixpences.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 31 Hire hed was worth halue a marke. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 324 Thou shalt a Cake of half a busshel fynde. a 1450 Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 9 Let it boyle halfe a myle wey and then set hyt down. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 5058 Noght the space of half a myle, Was done the houre of pryme. c 1500 Melusine xxxvi. 244 The whiche they recountred a half a myle fro the toun. 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 49 At Avering..there are halfe a dozen, or halfe a score stones little inferiour to the Stonehenge. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 203 For half an inch the letters stand awry. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Half a bull, half a crown. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities i. ii, Capable of holding about half a Gallon. |
d. preceding a relative clause.
(Here it may be a
n. with
of omitted.)
| 1696 Southerne Oroon. iii. i. (Mätz. Gram.), If he dares half what he says, he'll be of us. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 162 Of half that live the butcher and the tomb. 1786 Cowper Gratitude 41 All these are not half that I owe. |
† 2. half, preceded or followed by an ordinal numeral, was formerly used to express a half-unit less than the corresponding cardinal number; thus
OE. þridda healf,
ME. thridde half or
half thrid = two and a half.
Obs. This is an ancient Teutonic mode of reckoning:
cf. Ger. anderthalb (
= OE. oðer healf),
dritte halb, etc. In English it is scarcely found after 1300. The expression is explained in
quot. 811 as elliptical: ‘two (whole) messuages and a third half-messuage’, contracted to
ðridda half haȝa. Hence the following
n. was originally singular,
ðridde half h{yacu}d = two and a half hide. As in Old Norse, etc.,
half was either declined as an
adj. (
quot. 891), or stood in the uninflected combining form.
| 811 Charter in O.E. Texts 456 Duas possessiunculas et tertiam dimediam, id est in nostra loquela, ðridda half haᵹa. 891 O.E. Chron., Se bat wæs ᵹeworht of þriddan healfre hyde. c 1000 ælfric Gen. viii. 3 Ða wætera..begunnon to waniᵹenne æfter oþer healfhund daᵹa. c 1200 Ormin 13777 Þatt sahh & herrde daȝȝwhammliȝ Hallf ferþe ȝer þe Laferrd. c 1205 Lay. 32195 Ne wunede þe king þer bute uifte half ȝere. a 1300 Cursor M. 16599–600 Half feirth of eln was þe length, And oþer half þe brede [of þe rode]. c 1300 Beket 11 For ful other half ȝer. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 45 Thritty wynter and thridde half yer Hav y woned in londe her. |
3. In reference to space or distance: Half the length (or breadth) of. Now
rare or
Obs.| 1481 Caxton Godfrey xxvii. 61 They waded in the blood vnto the half legge. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 74 Their hair..hangs down over their shoulders to half their backs. Ibid. 302 A Casaque, or Coat, which falls down to half the leg. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1628/1 Soon after the Algerine fell astern, and there lay within half Pistol shot. 1692 Ibid. No. 2776/4 They saw our Fleet off of Portland, half Channel over. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xxxvi. 50 The lower Part of the Frock reaching Half-thigh down. |
4. As a measure of degree: Attaining only half-way to completeness or to the actual action, quality, or character in question; falling short of the full or perfect thing; partial, imperfect, incomplete. (Const. as in 1 a.)
In this use now more usually hyphened: see
half-.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 27341 He lede penant to half reuing. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 899 Both dawes and halfe fooles may bee made ministers or byshoppes. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. v. 116 b, The greater part whereof being halfe christians. 1653 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 22 Bargaining, conditional, or half ways beget nothing but factions and divisions. a 1765 Young Wks. (1767) IV. 81 (Jod.) Half converts to the right. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 198 Contented with half views of things and truths. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 185 A half toleration, known by the name of the Indulgence. 1858 C. Hunt in Merc. Mar. Mag. V. 84 Steam should be shut off to half speed. 1862 Whately in Life (1866) II. 392 A half measure is not a medium between two extremes, but a medium between what is right and what is wrong—between what will effect its purpose and what will not. |
▪ III. half, v. Obs. and
dial. f. halve v. (
q.v.); also
colloq. in sense To ‘be half’, go halves.
| 1889 Pall Mall G. 27 June 5, I asked Sir G. C. if he would ‘half’. He consented. I paid for the horse, he repaying me afterwards, and also paying half the training expenses. |
▪ IV. half, adv. (
hɑːf)
[OE. half, healf, in composition; in OE. sometimes, and in ME. often, written separate. Both usages are now found, usually with no difference of sense: see half- I.] 1. To the extent or amount of half. Hence loosely: In part, partially; to a certain extent, in some degree.
a. qualifying an adjective.
| [971 Blickl. Hom. 203 Ða hæþnan leode, þa þe lifdon heora burh healf-cwice.] c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 81 Half quic ho wes. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1697 Lucrece, They were halfe ydel, as hem thoghten. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 668/39 Surdaster, -a, -um, halfe deffe. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xix. civ, Thither she ran with speed, Like one half mad. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 96 Halfe wilde beasts. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 64 Fill it half full of water. 1832 Austin Jurispr. vi. (1869) 258 Governments which are styled by writers on positive international law half sovereign states. 1832 Tennyson Lady of Shalott ii, ‘I am half sick of shadows’ said The Lady of Shalott. 1878 Edith Thompson Hist. Eng. xix. 106 Half wild with rage and grief. |
b. qualifying a
pa. pple.| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3569 Er þay wern oȝt helf y-dyȝt, þus barons come oppon hem ryȝt. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 228 We ben halfe discomfyted. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 199 b, The erle had not halfe tolde his tale. 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner H vj b, Coleworts..Halfe sodden, make soluble. 1615 J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 8 In her halfe ruin'd cell. Ibid. 432, I am halfe perswaded that if hee had but a balladmakers poetry, he would sooner make an Epitaph. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 12 Dinner being near half done. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 66 ¶5 A Man's Life is half spent before he is taken notice of. 1897 Hall Caine Christian x, Half hidden behind a little forest of palms and ferns. |
c. qualifying a
pr. pple. or verb.
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. lxxiii, Half sleping and half swoun, in suich a wise. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxi. 1 This hinder nycht halff sleiping I lay. 1608 Bp. Hall Char. Virtues & V. 135 Halfe reading every title. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 162, I half suspect some concurrent affectations. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 12 A bow which a Norwegian can scarce half bend. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxxi, On entering he half turned to look back. 1859 Farrar J. Home 273 He..half wished he had not come. 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars 63 Half-hiding his face in his jacket. 1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 13 One side shadow, half in sight, Half-hiding the pavement-run. |
d. qualifying an
adv. or
advb. phrase.
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 40 Nys non so ȝeep, ne half so freo. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 225 There may no mannes privete Ben heled half so well. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 128 Halff in wraith frawart him gan he gang. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1612) 740 A man halfe beside himself. 1648 Gage West Ind. 191 The three Spaniards were halfe of the same mind. 1674 S. Vincent Yng. Gallant's Acad. 18 Caudle will not go down half so sweetly as this will. 1706 Addison Rosamond Wks. 1753 I. 132 The lily was not half so fair, Nor half so sweet the rose. 1724 R. Falconer Voy. (1769) 66, I rowed half round..the first Day. 1832 Half right, half-left [see half- II. d]. |
2. Used correlatively:
half{ddd}half{ddd}.
(Now sometimes hyphened to the following word; but this is unnecessary.)
| 944 in Earle Land Charters 179 Ðonne is þæt land æt snoces cumbe healf þæs cinges healf uncer brentinges. c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 109/16 Onocentaurus, healf mann and healf assa. c 1205 Lay. 1330 Hit is half mon & half fisc. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 304 He was half man and half beste. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 86 The Sonne..halfe above the Horizont, and half under. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 23, I ment not that they are halfe good, and halfe evill. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 60 An evill man is halfe a beast, and halfe a Divell. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxvii. (1737) 274 With..one of his Stockins, half on half off, about his Heel. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xxxiv, Half shewing, half concealing all The uncouth trophies of the hall. 1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 78 A kind of pouting look, half kind, and half reproachful. 1858 A. Lincoln Sp. 16 June in Life (1890) II. viii. 137, I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. |
3. not half: a long way from the due amount; to a very slight extent; in
mod. slang and
colloq. use
= not at all, the reverse of, as ‘not half bad’
= not at all bad, rather good; ‘not half a bad fellow’
= a good fellow; ‘not half long enough’
= not nearly long enough; also (
slang), extremely, violently, as ‘he didn't half swear’.
| 1583 T. Stocker Hist. Civ. Warres Lowe C. ii. 66 b, Thei were not halfe well prouided to goe awaie vpon the spurre. 1619 Drummond of Hawthornden Conv. w. B. Jonson xi. (1842) 11 Sir W. Alexander was not half kinde unto him, and neglected him. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d' Alf. ii. i. iii. II. 30 He thought this was hard teaching, he did not halfe like it. 1828 Craven Dial. s.v., ‘He's nut hauf a bad an', i.e. he is a fair, respectable person. 1851 Melville Moby Dick II. xxxi. 215, I don't half like that chap, Stubb. 1859 Hughes Scouring W. Horse vi. 133, I didn't half like the way in which Miss Lucy was running on. 1871 J. R. Planché King Christmas, He never admits a thing is good, but merely ‘not half bad’. 1886 J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts Pref., One or two friends to whom I showed these papers in MS. observed that they were not half bad. 1914 H. Ashton First from Front xiv. 99 It wasn't half all right, I tell you. 1919 V. Woolf Night & Day xv. 195, I could live on fifteen shillings a week... It wouldn't be half bad. 1920 Galsworthy Foundations iii, in Plays (1929) 498 Talk of your sacrifices in the war—they put you on your honour, and you got stout on it. Rations—not 'arf! 1953 L. P. Hartley Go-Between xiv. 165 And we didn't half enjoy your songs. 1955 E. Bowen World of Love ii. 19 He had no plans: he in fact would not be half sorry if someone said to him he was back for good. 1962 Parker & Allerton Courage of his Convictions iii. 143 It doesn't half nark them. |
4. Idiomatic uses, in which
half is now adverbial, though probably originally the
adj. or
n. a. In stating the time of day,
half past (or after) one or one o'clock, etc. = half an hour past the hour named. (In Scotland, ‘half’ is often prefixed to the following hour, as in
Ger. halb elf, etc.)
| 1750 G. B. Doddington Diary (1785) 74 Just at half past twelve she was delivered of a Prince. a 1791 Grose Olio (1796) 107 C. Pray what's o' clock? W. It will be half ten. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. v. 494 From half after seven..they remained exposed to the fire..till nine o'clock. 1819 Byron Juan i. civ, About the hour Of half⁓past six. 1853 Reade Chr. Johnstone 294 Flucker informed her that the nock said ‘half eleven’—Scotch for ‘half-past-ten’. 1891 Murray's Mag. Apr. 445 It was half after eight o'clock one evening. |
b. Naut. Between the names of two points of the compass,
half = half a point (
i.e. 5
5/
8°) from the first towards the second point mentioned.
| 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 17 Bearing South East half East, distant six leagues. 1893 Earl Dunmore Pamirs I. 252 We..altered our course from north to east half-south by the compass. |
c. Naut. In soundings,
half before a numeral adds half to it; thus
half four = 4½ fathoms.
| 1809 Tremenheere in Naval Chron. XXIII. 191 The ship..shoaled her water to a half three. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xlvii, We shall have half four directly, and after that the water will deepen. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 43 Suppose 4½ fathoms, what soundings would you call? And a half four. |