Wiktionary

halve

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English halven, helven, from Old English hilfan, helfan, *hielfan (“to halve, divide in two”), from Proto-West Germanic *halbijan, from Proto-Germanic *halbijaną (“to halve”), from Proto-Germanic *halbaz (“half”).

Cognate with Middle Dutch halven (“to halve”), Middle High German halben, helben (“to halve”). Compare also West Frisian helte (“to halve”), Dutch halveren (“to halve”), German Low German halberen (“to halve”), German halbieren (“to halve”), Danish halvere (“to halve”), Swedish halvera (“to halve”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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halve (third-person singular simple present halves, present participle halving, simple past and past participle halved)

  1. (transitive) To reduce to half the original amount.
    • 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: B.R. safety in 1959”, in Trains Illustrated, page 708:
      These show that since 1946 the fatality rate in train and movement accidents combined has been halved, [...].
  3. (transitive) To divide into two halves.
  4. (transitive) To make up half of.
  5. (architecture, transitive) To join two pieces of timber etc. by cutting away each for half its thickness at the joining place, and fitting together.
  6. (golf, transitive) In match play, to achieve a tie or draw on.
    • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:
      I, of course, had no difficulty in doing likewise, and we halved the hole; but the awkward fact remained that I must now gain every hole to win the match, for my opponent's score was "nine up," and there only remained ten holes to play.
    • 2005, Bill Elliott, The Golf Bag Buddy: The Essential On-Course Reference, page 67:
      All that counts is whether you won, lost, or halved the match.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Danish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈhalvə], [ˈhall̩]

Adjective

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halve

  1. plural and definite singular attributive of halv

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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halve

  1. inflection of half:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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halve (plural halves or halven)

  1. Alternative form of half

Etymology 2

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From Old English helfe.

Noun

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halve

  1. Alternative form of helve

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology 1

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Adjective

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halve

  1. definite singular of halv
  2. plural of halv

Etymology 2

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From Old Norse halfa.

Noun

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halve f or m (definite singular halva or halven, indefinite plural halver, definite plural halvene)

  1. (a) half
Synonyms
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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology 1

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Adjective

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halve

  1. definite singular of halv
  2. plural of halv

Etymology 2

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From Old Norse halfa.

Noun

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halve f (definite singular halva, indefinite plural halver, definite plural halvene)

  1. a half
Synonyms
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References

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