Citations:half

English citations of half

			1678		1843
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress:

  This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost quite spent; for you must know that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker.

  Sometimes he had half a thought to go back; then again he thought he might be half way through the valley; he remembered also how he had already vanquished many a danger, and that the danger of going back might be much more than for to go forward; so he resolved to go on.

  Then I entered into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and had no light for almost half the way through it. I thought I should have been killed there, over and over; but at last day broke, and the sun rose, and I went through that which was behind with far more ease and quiet.

• 1843, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol:

  He did pause, with a moment's irresolution, before he shut the door; and he did look cautiously behind it first, as if he half expected to be terrified with the sight of Marley's pigtail sticking out into the hall.

  Away they all went, twenty couple at once; hands half round and back again the other way; down the middle and up again; round and round in various stages of affectionate grouping; old top couple always turning up in the wrong place; new top couple starting off again, as soon as they got there; all top couples at last, and not a bottom one to help them!

  "You may — the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will — have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke.

of time: half an hour after

• 2011 December 7, Harvey Gould, A Fierce Local: Memoirs of My Love Affair with Ireland, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 179:

  We nursed our first, and then a second, but by 8:30 and still the only folks in sight, we were beginning to feel like characters in an episode of the "X Files." [...] People won't start showing up till between nine and half-nine.

mentions

• 2013 December 18, Allyson Stewart-Allen, Lanie Denslow, Working with Americans: How to build profitable business relationships, Pearson UK, →ISBN:

  half past nine, in Germany, “half nine” means “1⁄2 hour before nine” = 8:30 and in the US neither would be understood. In the US 30 minutes after the hour, 9:30, is stated as “nine thirty” followed by the designation “a.m.” or “p.m.”.

of time: half an hour before

• 1899, United States. Navy Department, United States. Naval War Records Office, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion: Ser. I, V. 1-27, Ser. II, V. 1-3, page 423:

  Gradually shoaling our water until 6:30 p.m., when the man in the chains called half seven, upon which the engine was stopped and hands at their stations for anchoring, the commander and executive officer being on the bridge […]

• 2009 August 25, Terence Brake, Where in the World is My Team?: Making a Success of Your Virtual Global Workplace, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

  'Half eight is 7:30 here[,] a half of eight! I got up early and missed breakfast,' he responded with a definite edge to his voice. 'I'm sorry Maarten, I didn't realize,' I said apologetically. 'I missed my breakfast as well if it's any […]

• 2009, Nicoline Sijs van der, Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages, Amsterdam University Press, →ISBN, page 270:

  Compare the 1832 quote "Waggons set off at half-two o'clock" and the 1987 quote "Half two means 1:30, it was commonly heard in the Pennsylvania Dutch country as recently as ten years ago, and is still heard in parts of Wisconsin."

mentiony

• 1960, Travel:

  If you make a date in Denmark for "half-seven" and you arrive at "seven" YOU'RE LATE! […]

• 1968, Exclusively Yours:

  ... in Scandinavia or German-speaking country you are asked to come at "half seven,” don't make the awful mistake of arriving at 7:30 — it means 6:30. Handshaking is much more part of life abroad than here.

• 2012 October 26, Richard Ling, Taken for Grantedness: The Embedding of Mobile Communication into Society, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 198:

  ... for example, “half seven” (“halv sju”) means 6:30, i.e., half an hour before seven. For a Brit, “half seven” means 7:30, i.e., half an hour past seven. Even these seemingly small differences can cause problems.

• 2012 November 3, Fiona Talbot, Sudakshina Bhattacharjee, Improve Your Global Business English: The Essential Toolkit for Writing and Communicating Across Borders, Kogan Page Publishers, →ISBN, page 217:

  This is alien to native English writing – where half past six (6:30), for example, would be 'half seven' in the German, or Dutch way of thinking. Don't underestimate the problems you can run into when doing business globally, […]

• 2017 February 24, Susan Perry Gurganus, Math Instruction for Students with Learning Problems, Routledge, →ISBN:

  Students who are English language learners may find it difficult to change from timetelling conventions such as saying “half six” to mean 5:30 or 6:30, depending on the culture, or the use of the 24hour method for telling time.

• 2021 January 20, Kay Xander Mellish, Working with Danes: Tips for Americans: Thoughts on the differences between Danish and American business culture, KXMGroup, →ISBN:

  Danes use military time – 16:00 instead of 4pm – when they want to be precise, but they may say 4 o'clock in casual use. Something to watch out for is that “half seven” in Danish corresponds to 6:30, […]