/hɑːv/, /hæv/, /hɛəv/
OriginFrom 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”).
- transitiveTo reduce to half the original amount.
“These show that since 1946 the fatality rate in train and movement accidents combined has been halved, [...].”
“The difficulty of each puzzle would increase as the number of miners increased, which would keep production to one block of transactions roughly every 10 minutes. In addition, the size of each block b”
- transitiveTo divide into two halves.
- transitiveTo make up half of.
“So far apart their lives are thrown / From the twin soul that halves their own.”
- transitiveTo join two pieces of timber etc. by cutting away each for half its thickness at the joining place, and fitting together.
- transitiveIn 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 th”
“All that counts is whether you won, lost, or halved the match.”
Formshalves(present, singular, third-person) · halving(participle, present) · halved(participle, past) · halved(past)