halve

verb

/hɑːv//hæv/US

Etymology

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”).

derived from *halbaz✻ — “half”
inherited from *halbijaną✻ — “to halve”
inherited from *halbijan✻
inherited from hilfan
inherited from halven

Definitions

1
To reduce to half the original amount.
- These show that since 1946 the fatality rate in train and movement accidents combined has been halved, [...].
To divide into two halves.
3
To make up half of.
- So far apart their lives are thrown / From the twin soul that halves their own.
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
1. To join two pieces of timber etc. by cutting away each for half its thickness at the…
  To join two pieces of timber etc. by cutting away each for half its thickness at the joining place, and fitting together.
2. 5
  In match play, to achieve a tie or draw on.
  - 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.
  - All that counts is whether you won, lost, or halved the match.

The neighborhood

synonymdimidiate
synonymbisect

Derived

a problem shared is a problem halved, a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved, a trouble shared is a trouble halved, cross-halving joint, halvable, halve it

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at halve. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at halve. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at halve

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA