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Từ điển LongMan Dictionary
half
 I. predeterminer
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a half moon (=looking like half a circle)
▪ A half moon was up now, pale and cool.
a number halves (=becomes twice as small)
▪ The number of children failing at school has halved in recent years.
at half mast (=halfway down the pole, in order to express public sadness at someone’s death)
▪ The government ordered that all flags should be flown at half mast.
be half awake (=not fully awake)
▪ Most of the people on the train were only half awake.
be half the fun (=be a very enjoyable part of doing something)
▪ Planning a vacation is half the fun.
be half the size of sth
▪ Kosovo is about half the size of Wales.
cut sth in half/two (=into two pieces)
▪ Cut the tomatoes in half.
first half
fly half
fold...in half
▪ It’ll fit in if you fold it in half.
given the chance/given half a chance (=if there is an opportunity to do something)
▪ Goats will eat anything, given half a chance.
half a dozen
▪ Chris, Helen, and half a dozen others went on holiday together.
half a mile
▪ We walked about half a mile.
half afraid (=a little afraid)
▪ Zoe was half afraid to go back in the house.
half an hour (also a half hour) (= thirty minutes)
▪ I’ll meet you in half an hour.
half as much again (=the same in addition to half that amount)
▪ The amount of crime is about half as much again as it was in 1973.
half board
▪ half board accommodation
half cocked
half crown
half day
▪ Friday is my half day off.
half dollar
half dressed (=not having finished putting your clothes on)
▪ Don’t come in – I’m only half dressed!
half expect (=partly, but not completely)
▪ He walked slowly towards the box, half expecting it to explode.
half measures
▪ Half measures will not fix the health care system.
half moon
half naked
▪ They found the body lying half naked in the grass.
half nelson
half note
half pay
▪ In 1822 he retired from the army as captain on half pay.
half pipe
half price
▪ Many shoes are at half price or less.
half step
half/partly right (=correct to some degree, but not completely)
▪ That theory may still be partly right.
in two/halves/pieces etc
▪ I tore the letter in two and threw the pieces in the fire.
slice sth in two/half
▪ Slice the eggs in two and arrange them on a serving dish.
snap (sth) in two/in half (=break into two pieces)
▪ The teacher snapped the chalk in two and gave me a piece.
split (sth) in two/half
▪ The board had split in two.
▪ Split the pineapple down the middle.
the bottom half
▪ There’s were only two windows in the bottom half of the building.
the first/second half of the century
▪ In the second half of the century, people's wages began to rise.
time and a half
▪ We get time and a half for working on Sunday.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be half the battle
▪ Getting Jeff to listen to me is half the battle.
▪ Just getting an interview is half the battle.
▪ And as the Reidys said, finding a family-friendly company is half the battle.
▪ Media mavens contend that the visual comparison of the two men side by side is half the battle.
▪ Relishing the state is half the battle towards a good life, for everyone.
be too clever by half
▪ Phil's good at thinking up excuses for his behaviour - he's too clever by half.
go halves (with sb)
go off half cocked
half asleep
▪ Sorry, what did you say? I was half asleep.
▪ Corporal L, the Royal Signals Operator, is half asleep in his chair.
▪ He never lost his sense of humor, even when he was half asleep.
▪ Inside, the Porter was half asleep behind a newspaper.
▪ It was a hot day, and I think I must have been half asleep when I noticed something very strange.
▪ Most of the time they were half asleep, chatting about the weather.
▪ She stayed on top of him, half asleep still.
▪ Sorcerer felt dazed and half asleep, still dreaming wild dawn dreams.
▪ The old lady nodded, as if half asleep.
half measures
▪ I suppose I was never contented with half measures.
▪ Learn your trade fully, do the job properly - no half measures.
▪ The only alternative to Lloyd George's lies were Asquith's half measures.
▪ There's no half measures to playing this way.
half the time
▪ About half the time, I went down with a buddy, half the time alone.
▪ Alice was thinking: Jim's so big and strong, Philip isn't; together they'd need half the time.
▪ AutoFix worked about half the time on both computers.
▪ Drunk and maudlin half the time.
▪ It's madness your having to live with them half the time.
▪ Just not in touch with it half the time.
▪ Poor thing, he could barely keep his eyes open half the time, and now he had this skin condition.
▪ The new mainframe operating system I have personally approved is going haywire; the computer is down half the time.
half/full price
▪ We got all the furniture for half price.
▪ At full price the set demands as much.
▪ First, he has devised a way of buying the ground at less than half price.
▪ I can't feel that this music as presented here is an attractive proposition at full price.
▪ If the guest took up the booking, the deposit was part payment of the full price.
▪ Most men's and women's clothing half price.
▪ On Sundays from 3 p. m. to 5 p. m., admission is half price.
▪ They was rubbish, and they was full price.
▪ Visalia bought a swimming pool at half price because its employees were unencumbered by line item budgets.
have half a mind to do sth
▪ I have half a mind to make you take this right back.
it's six of one and half a dozen of the other
keep/have one eye/half an eye on sb/sth
sb sees the glass as half-empty/half-full
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
 ADJECTIVE
bottom
▪ The bottom half of the building was towers, balconies and metal grilles, and the top half was very Hemish merchant.
▪ Place each burger on the bottom half of focaccia.
▪ Two large areas were marked in red, both in the bottom half of the map.
▪ The bottom half is a counterpoint to the showy fecundity of the top.
▪ He pushed the bottom half of the window upwards and swung one leg over the sill.
▪ But now, in the bottom half, our animal brotherhood is forgotten.
▪ Spread the bottom half with the cooled apple filling and cover with the top half of the cake.
▪ Cleveland had runners at first and third with no one out in the bottom half of the inning.
eastern
▪ The eastern half was a warehouse, a storey higher than the mill and built later, around 1890.
▪ The most southerly of the three enclosures had also been subdivided, although little of its eastern half lay within the trench.
▪ Through such Promethean effort, the eastern half of the continent was radically made over, for better or worse.
▪ In both Norfolk and Suffolk the eastern and western halves of the county are noticeably different.
▪ After her experience in Managua, Kegl wondered whether deaf people in the remote eastern half of the country had a language.
▪ Carrillo controls the eastern half of the 2, 000-mile border, the Arellanos the western half.
low
▪ Jamila was fast asleep with a sheet over her lower half.
▪ Cybil was twisting Paw-paw so that the lower half of the body was doing the hula.
▪ Plastic pins simply pushed in to secure the lower half of the handle to the body of the mower.
▪ He sees a team that finished in the lower half of the National League in hitting, pitching and fielding.
▪ The third type seem to be solid, and are largely confined to the lower half of the main cloud.
▪ Here the monk was fumbling with the appalled geisha and tearing at the lower half of her kimono.
▪ A big brown beard covered the lower half of his thin, pale, serious face.
▪ Glover felt how the entire lower half of himself was beginning to go numb.
northern
▪ Poor in the estuaries in the northern half of Morecambe Bay and not much prospect of improvement.
▪ Many walkers, particularly Brits, prefer to start in the south, reaching the more spectacular northern half when acclimatised.
other
▪ Don't take your other half for granted.
▪ An hour later they used the same tactics to gain entry to the other half of the camp.
▪ The other half of his ambition has never been in doubt.
▪ I took the other half, inspecting it in a similar manner.
▪ Half of the record aspired towards the cacophony of grinding rock and the other half was still emphasising their pop flair.
▪ Half of her wants to be a fella, and the other half's a frustrated old maid.
▪ The bank then served a bankruptcy petition on A for the other half.
▪ Half your army wants to hang back and shoot, the other half wants to get stuck in as quickly as possible.
southern
▪ The first section to be built was the southern half.
▪ Within months, land prices in the southern half of the county tripled.
▪ The United States has 37,000 troops based in the southern half of the divided peninsula.
top
▪ Spread the bottom half with the cooled apple filling and cover with the top half of the cake.
▪ In fact, the top half of the diagram is not very different.
▪ We want to establish a position in the top half of the table.
▪ The front door was open, revealing a stone-flagged porch, and an inner door with frosted glass in the top half.
▪ There is, however, one further difference affecting the top half of.the diagram.
▪ Some nests are given waterproof roofs by using particularly wide strips of leaves for the top half.
▪ Not since they found the top half of the greengrocer.
▪ The impact almost completely crushed the top half of the car.
upper
▪ At 590p or more, lead sponsor Merrill Lynch will have achieved a price in the upper half of that range.
▪ Across its upper half, two lines Of human figures snake toward an abstract river.
▪ His lower body is lime green with a rich shading of deep red across the upper half.
▪ At the brink of the chasm the upper half of his body rose for an instant with the arms uplifted.
▪ Six to eight diagonal transverse bands lie on the upper half of the body.
▪ A small television screen covered its upper half.
▪ I looked at several texts directed at the upper half of secondary schools and roughly the same categories emerged as for social studies.
▪ Both of these features should be apparent in the upper half of Figure 7.5, which shows a smooth plain.
NOUN
brother
▪ Celie is fourteen years old, she has one sister, Nettie and numerous half brothers and sisters.
▪ The president's half brother and one of his sons sued the government for trampling on their civil rights!
centre
▪ Although a recognised left back, Jimmy Phillips had experience at centre half with Rangers.
▪ Noo there wis a centre half.
▪ Curtis Fleming has been tried at centre half in two recent Central League games but lacks experience for a key job.
▪ Crewe centre half, Darren Carr got the header as the Hereford defence stood and watched.
▪ Boss Billy Bonds has been impressed in training by the 23-year-old centre half from Partisan Belgrade.
▪ I would have thought Centre half one of the more easier positions for talent spotting.
century
▪ All rounder Kevin Dixon has made a big impact, hitting two half centuries and also taking wickets.
▪ He had fought a maddening, 24-hour battle against a river that California agriculture had tamed for more than a half century.
▪ Manu Singh scored an undefeated half century in St Edwards' league success against Arnot.
▪ Massachusetts unimaginatively kept its establishment for another half century.
▪ Newtown then raced to 92-3 with Gwilym Lewis reaching an undefeated half century and Brian Jones adding 22.
▪ Light rays, anticipating by a half century the Rayonniststructures of Larionov, were made visible by the photographic telescope.
▪ Port had posted 179-7 thanks to an unbeaten half century by John Roberts.
▪ Commerce and industry are more splintered and diverse than a half century ago.
dozen
▪ The entire park had taken on an eerie red glow from the flashing sirens of the half dozen fire trucks parked alongside.
▪ Sunday night he was wild on at least a half dozen.
▪ Project sources say any one of the half dozen is capable of winning the contract.
▪ Now a mere half dozen kinds are left.
▪ No one has been here in six months, and only a half dozen or so have ever signed it.
▪ Around the vases a half dozen metal stakes had been planted.
▪ Names of a half dozen snitches have been listed as prosecution witnesses to whom Wooten allegedly confessed.
hour
▪ She had been waiting in his office with growing impatience for a full half hour.
▪ The passenger wagons were not going into town for another half hour, so I hired a carriage and went in myself.
▪ The envelope remained in my pocket for another half hour, after which time I casually strolled out to the gents.
▪ A half hour at the latest.
▪ Stuart claimed the extra half hour and we won by an innings in a day.
▪ I kept checking the bathroom mirror every half hour or so, certain my face was swelling on one side.
▪ Already the first stars were out; in a half hour the darkness would be solid.
▪ As expected, Annan got a generous endorsement from President Clinton, with whom he met for about a half hour.
mile
▪ In a short half mile we would leave the Lake shore, and make for home along the gravel of the road.
▪ He directs us to a good campsite a half mile down the beach at the base of a fresh-water estuary.
▪ Arriving late to find all moving stairways were out of order a panicky half mile sprint was needed to catch our plane.
▪ A water pipe jutted from the sandy village main street another half mile to the east.
▪ But a half mile down the road after some other diversion, I lose him.
▪ The nearest distraction is probably the Concord Turnpike, a half mile north of the pond.
million
▪ It cost a half million dollars to film.
▪ This development ought to net me a half million.
▪ At the time, District Attorney Joseph Freitas estimated the employees were stealing at least a half million dollars a year.
▪ These offers guaranteed at least a half million dollars a year plus a cut of trading profits.
▪ They also brought in sound trucks, extra precinct workers, and printed more than a half million pieces of campaign literature.
VERB
cut
▪ Galley cut the deficit in half at 7: 13 on their third power play.
▪ Yahoo's stock price has been cut by half since last summer, but it's an overreaction, the company says.
▪ It said said contamination levels must be cut by half within five years.
▪ Traders of interest-rate futures are pricing in a half-point cut in the first half of this year.
▪ Allow to cool until tepid. Cut the mangoes in half and scoop out the flesh with a metal spoon.
▪ Now cut the tomato in half from stem top to bottom.
▪ Industry could cut this amount in half in five years, according to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be too clever by half
▪ Phil's good at thinking up excuses for his behaviour - he's too clever by half.
go halves (with sb)
go off half cocked
half asleep
▪ Sorry, what did you say? I was half asleep.
▪ Corporal L, the Royal Signals Operator, is half asleep in his chair.
▪ He never lost his sense of humor, even when he was half asleep.
▪ Inside, the Porter was half asleep behind a newspaper.
▪ It was a hot day, and I think I must have been half asleep when I noticed something very strange.
▪ Most of the time they were half asleep, chatting about the weather.
▪ She stayed on top of him, half asleep still.
▪ Sorcerer felt dazed and half asleep, still dreaming wild dawn dreams.
▪ The old lady nodded, as if half asleep.
half measures
▪ I suppose I was never contented with half measures.
▪ Learn your trade fully, do the job properly - no half measures.
▪ The only alternative to Lloyd George's lies were Asquith's half measures.
▪ There's no half measures to playing this way.
half/full price
▪ We got all the furniture for half price.
▪ At full price the set demands as much.
▪ First, he has devised a way of buying the ground at less than half price.
▪ I can't feel that this music as presented here is an attractive proposition at full price.
▪ If the guest took up the booking, the deposit was part payment of the full price.
▪ Most men's and women's clothing half price.
▪ On Sundays from 3 p. m. to 5 p. m., admission is half price.
▪ They was rubbish, and they was full price.
▪ Visalia bought a swimming pool at half price because its employees were unencumbered by line item budgets.
it's six of one and half a dozen of the other
sb sees the glass as half-empty/half-full
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After an hour and a half, you too may find yourself chanting, Save us Jackie, save us.
▪ Especially since I said to David about a week and a half ago and then.
▪ It was even Steven in the second half, but towards the end Gloucester roared into life.
▪ Slice loin and place on other half of plate; drizzle with oil and sprinkle with basil.
▪ The home side went ahead through Thierry Henry in the first half and Nwankwo Kanu in the second.
▪ The referee added seven minutes of injury time in a stop-start first half.
III. adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
ADJECTIVE
asleep
▪ The old lady nodded, as if half asleep.
▪ He never lost his sense of humor, even when he was half asleep.
▪ Old men with their faces in the page, half asleep, here to escape whatever is out there.
empty
▪ The long room was half dark, and half empty.
▪ Most of the correspondents had gone now; the room was half empty.
full
▪ Allows two bikes at a time in wheelchair areas of all buses, provided the bus is less than half full.
▪ The glass is always half full in our land of optimists.
▪ With her, the glass is always half full.
▪ Kaiser hospitals in Northern California are about half full, and several of them need replacement or modernization.
▪ Our car was half full, and we were assigned to a row by ourselves.
▪ That drawer was only half full.
▪ But I prefer to see the glass as half full, not half empty.
naked
▪ He drifts round the corner, half naked.
▪ Cold and half naked in the darkened bedroom, Cantor felt the day had taken a shape for the worse.
▪ Her eyes widened, glowing at the half naked girl beside her.
right
▪ Sklare was half right in his explanation.
VERB
close
▪ He half closed his eyes, deliberately losing focus until the sea was a vast grey void.
▪ There was a bedroom off to the side, its door half closed, also for buyers and their guests.
▪ She half closed her eyes, but she knew that the picture she presented was anything but detached.
▪ One of his eyes was half closed, and he wore a big hat which covered most of his head.
dress
▪ Some in pyjamas, others half dressed suddenly lined up to take their tea and pills.
▪ Children, som-e only toddlers, played half dressed in the sand at their feet.
expect
▪ He half expected to see some naked tourist in the corner, bound and gagged.
▪ Can't say we didn't half expect it, I suppose, by this time.
▪ She half expected to see bloodstains.
▪ He had been half expecting a confession.
▪ And she had half expected that he would follow her and continue the argument.
▪ Rodo glanced confusedly up at the ceiling, half expecting the roof to collapse in on him.
▪ Dorcas was half expecting the car to follow them.
hide
▪ Further along the grassy track, half hidden behind trees, a church roof can be glimpsed.
▪ Her right hand rests on her knee, her left is half hidden in a pocket.
▪ Clifford Bradley had half hidden himself from the rest of the company behind the table holding the model of the new Laboratory.
▪ A man at the train station stood watching, half hidden in the crowd.
▪ He had the skull half hidden in his lap and his little hand stroked the smooth bone, gently and rhythmically.
▪ Her eyes ran down the black jacket to where the man's watch was half hidden by a white cuff.
▪ A small wooden door, set into the stone wall, and half hidden beneath the hanging tendrils of a climbing rose.
turn
▪ I half turned on the stool.
▪ She half turned but thought better of it.
▪ She half turned to look at the figure beside her and this proved a near fatal mistake.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "That's good," he said dully, putting down his half-eaten sandwich.
▪ Her first album is now half finished and is due out later this year.
▪ I found him sitting on his bed, half-dressed.
▪ The houses were half-submerged by the flood water.
▪ There was a half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But LeRoy, he got one half again as big.
▪ By this time the poor charioteer was half fainting with terror, and he let the reins fall.
▪ Cold and half naked in the darkened bedroom, Cantor felt the day had taken a shape for the worse.
▪ Her right hand rests on her knee, her left is half hidden in a pocket.
▪ It struck me that there was nothing there half so beautiful as the vision just presented by its derelict predecessor.
▪ Miss Russell had a morbid fear of sunlight fading carpets and furnishings, so the curtains were half drawn as usual.
▪ She half fell, half collapsed against it, unable to stop the tears of fear and anguish pouring down her face.
▪ That's 45 percent more than in 1990, but virtually half as many as visited the Paris show.
half
I. half1 S1 W1 /hɑːf $ hæf/ predeterminer, pronoun, adjective [ONLY BEFORE NOUN]
1. 50% exactly or about 50% (½) of an amount, time, distance, number etc
half of
▪ Over half of the children live in one-parent families.
▪ Only half the guests had arrived by seven o'clock.
▪ If you look at our members, at least half are women.
half a mile/pound/hour etc
▪ half a pound of butter
▪ It’s about half a mile down the road.
▪ She drank half a bottle of wine.
▪ half a million dollars
a half hour/mile etc
▪ You can’t just waltz in a half hour late.
▪ It’s about a half mile down the road.
▪ a half day excursion to the island
▪ He demanded a half share of the money.
half the price/size/length etc
▪ It’s only half the size of a normal violin.
▪ They offered to pay half the cost of repairs.
2. MOST OF the largest part of something
half of
▪ We missed half of what he said because someone was talking.
▪ She seems to be asleep half the time.
▪ Getting covered in mud is half the fun.
3. TIME half past one/two/three etc especially British English (also half one/two/three etc British English spoken) 30 minutes after the hour mentioned:
▪ I got home at about half past one.
▪ I rang at about half six.
▪ We’ll be there by seven or half past (=half past seven).
4. half a dozen
a) six:
▪ half a dozen eggs
b) a small number of people or things:
▪ There were half a dozen other people in front of me.
5. half a/the chance
a small opportunity to do something, especially one which someone would take eagerly:
▪ I’d go to university if I got half the chance.
▪ Many kids would sleep till noon given half a chance.
6. half an eye/ear
if you have half an eye on something, or if you are listening with half an ear, you are giving only part of your attention to it:
▪ He listened with only half an ear and his thoughts wandered.
▪ The teacher kept half an eye on them all through the lesson.
7. be half the battle
spoken used to say that when you have done the most difficult part of an activity, the rest is easy:
▪ Getting the audience to like you is half the battle.
8. half a minute/moment/second etc
spoken a very short time:
▪ Hold on, this will only take half a second.
9. only half the story
an explanation that is not complete, used especially to say that someone is trying to keep something secret:
▪ Journalists are convinced that she was only telling them half the story.
10. have half a mind to do something
spoken used to say that you would like to do something but you probably will not do it:
▪ He had half a mind to ask for his money back.
▪ I have half a mind to tell your mother about this.
11. half measures
actions or methods that are not strong enough, and so are not effective in dealing with a difficult problem:
▪ This is no time for half measures.
12. half a loaf (is better than none)
something that is less than what you wanted or asked for, but that you might accept because it is better than nothing
• • •
GRAMMAR
Use a plural verb after half (of) if you are referring to a number of people or things:
▪ Barely half the citizens bother to vote. Use a singular verb if you are referring to an amount or thing:
▪ Half the food was wasted.
▪ Over half of Britain’s ancient woodland has been destroyed.
► You do not usually say 'the half':
▪ I’ve only read half of the story (NOT the half of the story). The only time you say 'the half' is when you are referring to a particular half:
▪ the first half of the book
► Do not say 'half of hour'. Say half an hour or, especially in spoken American English, a half hour.
► Do not say 'one and half', 'two and half' etc. Say one and a half, two and a half etc:
▪ She is two and a half years old. These phrases are followed by a plural noun, not a singular noun:
▪ one and a half days (NOT one and a half day)
II. half2 S1 W2 noun (plural halves /hɑːvz $ hævz/) [COUNTABLE]
1. 50% one of two equal parts of something:
▪ Two halves make a whole.
one/two etc and a half (=1½, 2½ etc)
▪ My son’s three and a half now.
▪ an hour and a half later
▪ two and a half thousand people
first/second/other half (of something)
▪ in the first half of the 19th century
▪ He kept the other half of the cake for himself.
top/bottom/northern etc half (of something)
▪ A veil covered the lower half of her face.
▪ the southern half of the country
break/cut/tear etc something in half (=into two equal parts)
▪ She tore the piece of paper in half.
reduce/cut something by half (=make something 50% smaller)
▪ a plan to cut European forces by half
2. SPORT one of the two parts into which a sports event is divided
first/second half
▪ France played very well in the first half.
3. PLAYER a player who plays in the middle part of the field in sports like football, rugby etc:
▪ the 23-year-old Newcastle centre half
4. BEER British English a half of a pint of beer
half of
▪ Can I have a half of lager, please?
5. TICKET British English a child’s ticket, for example on a bus or train, that is cheaper than an adult’s ticket:
▪ One and a half to Waterloo, please.
6. a ... and a half
informal used when you think that something is very unusual or surprising, or very good:
▪ That was a meal and a half!
7. the half of it
spoken used to emphasize that a situation is more difficult, complicated, or unpleasant than people realize:
▪ Everyone knows she’s a difficult girl, but they don’t know the half of it.
8. your better half/other half
old-fashioned used humorously to mean your husband or wife
9. not do something by halves
to do something very eagerly and using a lot of care and effort:
▪ I’m sure it will be a fantastic wedding. Eva never does anything by halves.
10. go halves (on something)
to share something, especially the cost of something, equally between two people:
▪ Do you want to go halves on a pizza?
11. too clever/rich/good etc by half
British English informal very clever, rich etc in an annoying way:
▪ That boy’s too arrogant by half.
12. how the other half lives
how people who are much richer or much poorer than you manage their lives, work, money etc
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
verbs
▪break/cut/tear something in half (=into two equal pieces)
▪ He tore the paper in half.
▪divide/split something in half
▪ Divide the dough in half.
▪reduce/cut something by half (=make something 50% smaller or 50% less)
▪ The company has reduced the number of staff by half.
▪decrease/fall by half (=become 50% less)
▪ Share prices fell by half.
▪increase/rise by half (=become 50% more)
▪ The number of passengers using the service has increased by half.
adjectives
▪the top/bottom half
▪ He graduated in the top half of his law school class.
▪the upper/lower half
▪ The upper half of the door contained a stained glass window.
▪the northern/southern half
▪ The northern half of the city is generally poorer.
▪the first/second half
▪ Profits doubled in the first half of the year.
▪the other half
▪ Half the patients were given the drug and the other half were given a sugar pill.
▪the last/latter half
▪ He struggled with ill health in the latter half of his life.
phrases
▪one/two etc and a half
▪ ‘How old is she?’ ‘Five and a half.’
III. half3 S2 adverb
1. partly, but not completely:
▪ He was half in the water and half out.
▪ She was standing there half dressed, putting on her make-up.
▪ The door was only half closed.
▪ The jug was still half full.
▪ a half-empty wine bottle
▪ I was only half awake.
▪ He looked half asleep.
▪ I was half expecting her to say ‘no’.
▪ I half hoped that they wouldn’t come.
▪ I said it half jokingly.
2. if something is half one thing and half something else, it is a combination of those two things:
▪ He’s half English, half Swiss.
3. used to emphasize something bad, to say that it is almost an extremely bad thing:
▪ The kitten looked half starved.
▪ He was half dead with exhaustion.
▪ I had been driven half out of my mind with worry.
4.
a) half as much/big etc half the size, amount etc of something else:
▪ The new machine has all the same functions, but is only half as large.
b) half as much/big etc again larger by an amount that is equal to half the original size:
▪ A flat in London costs almost half as much again as a flat in Glasgow.
5. not half as/so good/interesting etc (as somebody/something)
much less good, less interesting etc than someone or something else:
▪ The movie wasn’t half as entertaining as the book.
▪ She can’t love you half as much as I do.
6. not half
British English spoken used when you want to emphasize an opinion or statement:
▪ She doesn’t half talk once she gets started.
7. not half bad
spoken an expression meaning good, used especially when you are rather surprised that something is good:
▪ Actually, the party wasn’t half bad.
8. half and half
partly one thing and partly another:
▪ The group was about half and half, complete beginners and people with some experience.
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