Half (häf), a. [AS. healf, half, half; as a noun, half, side, part; akin to OS., OFries., & D. half, G. halb, Sw. half, Dan. halv, Icel. hālfr, 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.
☞ 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 one half a vessel, divided lengthwise, showing the lines. — Half cadence(Mus.), a cadence on the dominant. — Half cap, a slight salute with the cap. Shak. — At 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 months; one term of a school when there are two terms in a year.