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half-hour

[ haf-ouuh r, -ou-er, hahf- ]

/ ˈhæfˈaʊər, -ˈaʊ ər, ˈhɑf- /

noun

a period of 30 minutes.

the midpoint between the hours: The clock struck on the half-hour.

adjective

of, relating to, or consisting of a half-hour: half-hour programs.

Origin of half-hour

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425

Words nearby half-hour

half-hardy, half-hearted, half-hitch, half-holiday, half-hoping, half-hour, half-human, half-hunter, half-inch, half-integral, half-jack

Example sentences from the Web for half-hour

As an election tactic, it was a Hail-Mary move: a half-hour address by an aging actor of no political standing or constituency.

Remembering Reagan’s Defining Speech |Stuart Stevens |October 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The ferries run every half-hour to the Russian mainland, but they take only a few dozen cars on each trip.

Crimea: A Patriotic Russian Vacation From Hell |Anna Nemtsova |August 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
He would spend at least a half-hour being decontaminated afterward.

‘He Could Have Brought Ebola Here’: Minnesota Widow on Her Husband |Michael Daly |July 30, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
A year earlier the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC had expanded to a half-hour.

Lyndon Johnson’s Last Miracle: The Civil Rights Act Turns 50 |Nicolaus Mills |July 2, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

McMinnville, Tennessee is less than a half-hour from “the farm” where the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival takes place.

Tennessee Not Impressed By Bonnaroo |Daniel G. Hill |June 13, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
"I was somewhere about this spot when the half-hour struck last night, for your clocks were fast," remarked Rupert.

Trevlyn Hold |Mrs. Henry Wood
If you could but slip for one half-hour into your mad brother's skin.

Margery [Gred], Complete |Georg Ebers
And we fought there a half-hour by the clock, till our breath failed us, and never a blow could we get home on one another.

Sir Ludar |Talbot Baines Reed
A child from three to six years old will require from ten drops to half a teaspoon of the syrup every half-hour till relieved.

Housekeeping in Old Virginia |Marion Cabell Tyree
"See what this man says: 'If you will only deign to grant me one half-hour,'" she repeated, with an imitation of languor.

Sister Carrie |Theodore Dreiser

British Dictionary definitions for half-hour

half-hour

noun

a period of 30 minutes
(as modifier)a half-hour stint on the treadmill

the point of time 30 minutes after the beginning of an hour
(as modifier)a half-hour chime

Derived forms of half-hour

half-hourly, adverb, adjective