HALF Half, a. Etym: [AS. healf, half, half; as a noun, half, side, part; akin to OS., OFries., & D. half, G. halb, Sw. half, Dan. halv, Icel. halfr, Goth. halbs. Cf. Halve, Behalf.]
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.
Assumed from thence a half consent. Tennyson.
Half ape (Zoöl.), 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 (Mus.), a cadence on the dominant.
— Half cap, a slight salute with the cap. [Obs.] Shak.
— A half cock, the position of the cock of a gun when retained by
the first notch.
— 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 (Mus.), a minim, one half of a semibreve.
— 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. (a) (Arch.) A molding of semicircular section. (b)
(Mech.) Having one side flat and the other rounded; — said of a
file.
— Half shift (Mus.), 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 (Mus.), 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 moths; one term of a school when
there are two terms in a year.
HALF
Half, adv.
Defn: In an equal part or degree; in some paas, half-colored, half
done, half-hearted, half persuaded, half conscious. "Half loth and
half consenting." Dryden.
Their children spoke halfin the speech of Ashdod. Neh. xiii. 24
HALF
Half, n.; pl. Halves. Etym: [AS. healf. See Half, a.]
1. Part; side; behalf. [Obs.] Wyclif. 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. Not half his riches known, and yet despised. Milton. A friendship so complete Portioned in halves between us. Tennyson. Better half. See under Better. — In half, in two; an expression sometimes used improperly instead of in or into halves; as, to cut in half. [Colloq.] Dickens. — In, or On, one's half, in one's behalf; on one's part. [Obs.] — To cry halves, to claim an equal share with another. — To go halves, to share equally between two.
HALF
Half, v. t.