Half a.
 1. Consisting of a moiety, or half; as, a half bushel; a half hour; a half dollar; a half view.
 Note: ☞ The adjective and noun are often united to form a compound.
 2. Consisting of some indefinite portion resembling a half; approximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect; as, a half dream; half knowledge.
    Assumed from thence a half consent.   --Tennyson.
 Half ape Zool., a lemur.
 Half back. Football See under 2d Back.
 Half bent, the first notch, for the sear point to enter, in the tumbler of a gunlock; the halfcock notch.
 Half binding, a style of bookbinding in which only the back and corners are in leather.
 Half boarder, one who boards in part; specifically, a scholar at a boarding school who takes dinner only.
 Half-breadth plan Shipbuilding, a horizontal plan of one half a vessel, divided lengthwise, showing the lines.
 Half cadence Mus., a cadence on the dominant.
 Half cap, a slight salute with the cap. [Obs.] --Shak.
 At half cock, the position of the cock of a gun when retained by the first notch.
 Half hitch, a sailor's knot in a rope; half of a clove hitch.
 Half hose, short stockings; socks.
 Half measure, an imperfect or weak line of action.
 Half note Mus., a minim, one half of a semibreve.
 Half pay, half of the wages or salary; reduced pay; as, an officer on half pay.
 Half price, half the ordinary price; or a price much reduced.
 Half round. (a) Arch. A molding of semicircular section. (b) Mech. Having one side flat and the other rounded; -- said of a file.
 Half shift Mus., a position of the hand, between the open position and the first shift, in playing on the violin and kindred instruments. See Shift.
 Half step Mus., a semitone; the smallest difference of pitch or interval, used in music.
 Half tide, the time or state of the tide equally distant from ebb and flood.
 Half time, half the ordinary time for work or attendance; as, the half-time system.
 Half tint Fine Arts, a middle or intermediate tint, as in drawing or painting. See Demitint.
 Half truth, a statement only partially true, or which gives only a part of the truth. --Mrs. Browning.
 Half year, the space of six months; one term of a school when there are two terms in a year.
 half hitch
      n : a knot used to fasten a rope temporarily to an object;
          usually tied double