I. predeterminer
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a half moon (= looking like half a circle )
▪
A half moon was up now, pale and cool.
a number halves (= becomes twice as small )
▪
The number of children failing at school has halved in recent years.
at half mast (= halfway down the pole, in order to express public sadness at someone’s death )
▪
The government ordered that all flags should be flown at half mast .
be half awake (= not fully awake )
▪
Most of the people on the train were only half awake.
be half the fun (= be a very enjoyable part of doing something )
▪
Planning a vacation is half the fun.
be half the size of sth
▪
Kosovo is about half the size of Wales.
cut sth in half/two (= into two pieces )
▪
Cut the tomatoes in half.
first half
fly half
fold...in half
▪
It’ll fit in if you fold it in half .
given the chance/given half a chance (= if there is an opportunity to do something )
▪
Goats will eat anything, given half a chance.
half a dozen
▪
Chris, Helen, and half a dozen others went on holiday together.
half a mile
▪
We walked about half a mile .
half afraid (= a little afraid )
▪
Zoe was half afraid to go back in the house.
half an hour ( also a half hour ) (= thirty minutes )
▪
I’ll meet you in half an hour.
half as much again (= the same in addition to half that amount )
▪
The amount of crime is about half as much again as it was in 1973.
half board
▪
half board accommodation
half cocked
half crown
half day
▪
Friday is my half day off.
half dollar
half dressed (= not having finished putting your clothes on )
▪
Don’t come in – I’m only half dressed!
half expect (= partly, but not completely )
▪
He walked slowly towards the box, half expecting it to explode.
half measures
▪
Half measures will not fix the health care system.
half moon
half naked
▪
They found the body lying half naked in the grass.
half nelson
half note
half pay
▪
In 1822 he retired from the army as captain on half pay.
half pipe
half price
▪
Many shoes are at half price or less.
half step
half/partly right (= correct to some degree, but not completely )
▪
That theory may still be partly right.
in two/halves/pieces etc
▪
I tore the letter in two and threw the pieces in the fire.
slice sth in two/half
▪
Slice the eggs in two and arrange them on a serving dish.
snap (sth) in two/in half (= break into two pieces )
▪
The teacher snapped the chalk in two and gave me a piece.
split (sth) in two/half
▪
The board had split in two.
▪
Split the pineapple down the middle .
the bottom half
▪
There’s were only two windows in the bottom half of the building.
the first/second half of the century
▪
In the second half of the century, people's wages began to rise.
time and a half
▪
We get time and a half for working on Sunday.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be half the battle
▪
Getting Jeff to listen to me is half the battle .
▪
Just getting an interview is half the battle .
▪
And as the Reidys said, finding a family-friendly company is half the battle .
▪
Media mavens contend that the visual comparison of the two men side by side is half the battle .
▪
Relishing the state is half the battle towards a good life, for everyone.
be too clever by half
▪
Phil's good at thinking up excuses for his behaviour - he's too clever by half.
go halves (with sb)
go off half cocked
half asleep
▪
Sorry, what did you say? I was half asleep .
▪
Corporal L, the Royal Signals Operator, is half asleep in his chair.
▪
He never lost his sense of humor, even when he was half asleep .
▪
Inside, the Porter was half asleep behind a newspaper.
▪
It was a hot day, and I think I must have been half asleep when I noticed something very strange.
▪
Most of the time they were half asleep , chatting about the weather.
▪
She stayed on top of him, half asleep still.
▪
Sorcerer felt dazed and half asleep , still dreaming wild dawn dreams.
▪
The old lady nodded, as if half asleep .
half measures
▪
I suppose I was never contented with half measures .
▪
Learn your trade fully, do the job properly - no half measures .
▪
The only alternative to Lloyd George's lies were Asquith's half measures .
▪
There's no half measures to playing this way.
half the time
▪
About half the time , I went down with a buddy, half the time alone.
▪
Alice was thinking: Jim's so big and strong, Philip isn't; together they'd need half the time .
▪
AutoFix worked about half the time on both computers.
▪
Drunk and maudlin half the time .
▪
It's madness your having to live with them half the time .
▪
Just not in touch with it half the time .
▪
Poor thing, he could barely keep his eyes open half the time , and now he had this skin condition.
▪
The new mainframe operating system I have personally approved is going haywire; the computer is down half the time .
half/full price
▪
We got all the furniture for half price .
▪
At full price the set demands as much.
▪
First, he has devised a way of buying the ground at less than half price .
▪
I can't feel that this music as presented here is an attractive proposition at full price .
▪
If the guest took up the booking, the deposit was part payment of the full price .
▪
Most men's and women's clothing half price .
▪
On Sundays from 3 p. m. to 5 p. m., admission is half price .
▪
They was rubbish, and they was full price .
▪
Visalia bought a swimming pool at half price because its employees were unencumbered by line item budgets.
have half a mind to do sth
▪
I have half a mind to make you take this right back.
it's six of one and half a dozen of the other
keep/have one eye/half an eye on sb/sth
sb sees the glass as half-empty/half-full
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bottom
▪
The bottom half of the building was towers, balconies and metal grilles, and the top half was very Hemish merchant.
▪
Place each burger on the bottom half of focaccia.
▪
Two large areas were marked in red, both in the bottom half of the map.
▪
The bottom half is a counterpoint to the showy fecundity of the top.
▪
He pushed the bottom half of the window upwards and swung one leg over the sill.
▪
But now, in the bottom half , our animal brotherhood is forgotten.
▪
Spread the bottom half with the cooled apple filling and cover with the top half of the cake.
▪
Cleveland had runners at first and third with no one out in the bottom half of the inning.
eastern
▪
The eastern half was a warehouse, a storey higher than the mill and built later, around 1890.
▪
The most southerly of the three enclosures had also been subdivided, although little of its eastern half lay within the trench.
▪
Through such Promethean effort, the eastern half of the continent was radically made over, for better or worse.
▪
In both Norfolk and Suffolk the eastern and western halves of the county are noticeably different.
▪
After her experience in Managua, Kegl wondered whether deaf people in the remote eastern half of the country had a language.
▪
Carrillo controls the eastern half of the 2, 000-mile border, the Arellanos the western half.
low
▪
Jamila was fast asleep with a sheet over her lower half .
▪
Cybil was twisting Paw-paw so that the lower half of the body was doing the hula.
▪
Plastic pins simply pushed in to secure the lower half of the handle to the body of the mower.
▪
He sees a team that finished in the lower half of the National League in hitting, pitching and fielding.
▪
The third type seem to be solid, and are largely confined to the lower half of the main cloud.
▪
Here the monk was fumbling with the appalled geisha and tearing at the lower half of her kimono.
▪
A big brown beard covered the lower half of his thin, pale, serious face.
▪
Glover felt how the entire lower half of himself was beginning to go numb.
northern
▪
Poor in the estuaries in the northern half of Morecambe Bay and not much prospect of improvement.
▪
Many walkers, particularly Brits, prefer to start in the south, reaching the more spectacular northern half when acclimatised.
other
▪
Don't take your other half for granted.
▪
An hour later they used the same tactics to gain entry to the other half of the camp.
▪
The other half of his ambition has never been in doubt.
▪
I took the other half , inspecting it in a similar manner.
▪
Half of the record aspired towards the cacophony of grinding rock and the other half was still emphasising their pop flair.
▪
Half of her wants to be a fella, and the other half's a frustrated old maid.
▪
The bank then served a bankruptcy petition on A for the other half .
▪
Half your army wants to hang back and shoot, the other half wants to get stuck in as quickly as possible.
southern
▪
The first section to be built was the southern half .
▪
Within months, land prices in the southern half of the county tripled.
▪
The United States has 37,000 troops based in the southern half of the divided peninsula.
top
▪
Spread the bottom half with the cooled apple filling and cover with the top half of the cake.
▪
In fact, the top half of the diagram is not very different.
▪
We want to establish a position in the top half of the table.
▪
The front door was open, revealing a stone-flagged porch, and an inner door with frosted glass in the top half .
▪
There is, however, one further difference affecting the top half of.the diagram.
▪
Some nests are given waterproof roofs by using particularly wide strips of leaves for the top half .
▪
Not since they found the top half of the greengrocer.
▪
The impact almost completely crushed the top half of the car.
upper
▪
At 590p or more, lead sponsor Merrill Lynch will have achieved a price in the upper half of that range.
▪
Across its upper half , two lines Of human figures snake toward an abstract river.
▪
His lower body is lime green with a rich shading of deep red across the upper half .
▪
At the brink of the chasm the upper half of his body rose for an instant with the arms uplifted.
▪
Six to eight diagonal transverse bands lie on the upper half of the body.
▪
A small television screen covered its upper half .
▪
I looked at several texts directed at the upper half of secondary schools and roughly the same categories emerged as for social studies.
▪
Both of these features should be apparent in the upper half of Figure 7.5, which shows a smooth plain.
■ NOUN
brother
▪
Celie is fourteen years old, she has one sister, Nettie and numerous half brothers and sisters.
▪
The president's half brother and one of his sons sued the government for trampling on their civil rights!
centre
▪
Although a recognised left back, Jimmy Phillips had experience at centre half with Rangers.
▪
Noo there wis a centre half .
▪
Curtis Fleming has been tried at centre half in two recent Central League games but lacks experience for a key job.
▪
Crewe centre half , Darren Carr got the header as the Hereford defence stood and watched.
▪
Boss Billy Bonds has been impressed in training by the 23-year-old centre half from Partisan Belgrade.
▪
I would have thought Centre half one of the more easier positions for talent spotting.
century
▪
All rounder Kevin Dixon has made a big impact, hitting two half centuries and also taking wickets.
▪
He had fought a maddening, 24-hour battle against a river that California agriculture had tamed for more than a half century .
▪
Manu Singh scored an undefeated half century in St Edwards' league success against Arnot.
▪
Massachusetts unimaginatively kept its establishment for another half century .
▪
Newtown then raced to 92-3 with Gwilym Lewis reaching an undefeated half century and Brian Jones adding 22.
▪
Light rays, anticipating by a half century the Rayonniststructures of Larionov, were made visible by the photographic telescope.
▪
Port had posted 179-7 thanks to an unbeaten half century by John Roberts.
▪
Commerce and industry are more splintered and diverse than a half century ago.
dozen
▪
The entire park had taken on an eerie red glow from the flashing sirens of the half dozen fire trucks parked alongside.
▪
Sunday night he was wild on at least a half dozen .
▪
Project sources say any one of the half dozen is capable of winning the contract.
▪
Now a mere half dozen kinds are left.
▪
No one has been here in six months, and only a half dozen or so have ever signed it.
▪
Around the vases a half dozen metal stakes had been planted.
▪
Names of a half dozen snitches have been listed as prosecution witnesses to whom Wooten allegedly confessed.
hour
▪
She had been waiting in his office with growing impatience for a full half hour .
▪
The passenger wagons were not going into town for another half hour , so I hired a carriage and went in myself.
▪
The envelope remained in my pocket for another half hour , after which time I casually strolled out to the gents.
▪
A half hour at the latest.
▪
Stuart claimed the extra half hour and we won by an innings in a day.
▪
I kept checking the bathroom mirror every half hour or so, certain my face was swelling on one side.
▪
Already the first stars were out; in a half hour the darkness would be solid.
▪
As expected, Annan got a generous endorsement from President Clinton, with whom he met for about a half hour .
mile
▪
In a short half mile we would leave the Lake shore, and make for home along the gravel of the road.
▪
He directs us to a good campsite a half mile down the beach at the base of a fresh-water estuary.
▪
Arriving late to find all moving stairways were out of order a panicky half mile sprint was needed to catch our plane.
▪
A water pipe jutted from the sandy village main street another half mile to the east.
▪
But a half mile down the road after some other diversion, I lose him.
▪
The nearest distraction is probably the Concord Turnpike, a half mile north of the pond.
million
▪
It cost a half million dollars to film.
▪
This development ought to net me a half million .
▪
At the time, District Attorney Joseph Freitas estimated the employees were stealing at least a half million dollars a year.
▪
These offers guaranteed at least a half million dollars a year plus a cut of trading profits.
▪
They also brought in sound trucks, extra precinct workers, and printed more than a half million pieces of campaign literature.
■ VERB
cut
▪
Galley cut the deficit in half at 7: 13 on their third power play.
▪
Yahoo's stock price has been cut by half since last summer, but it's an overreaction, the company says.
▪
It said said contamination levels must be cut by half within five years.
▪
Traders of interest-rate futures are pricing in a half-point cut in the first half of this year.
▪
Allow to cool until tepid. Cut the mangoes in half and scoop out the flesh with a metal spoon.
▪
Now cut the tomato in half from stem top to bottom.
▪
Industry could cut this amount in half in five years, according to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be too clever by half
▪
Phil's good at thinking up excuses for his behaviour - he's too clever by half.
go halves (with sb)
go off half cocked
half asleep
▪
Sorry, what did you say? I was half asleep .
▪
Corporal L, the Royal Signals Operator, is half asleep in his chair.
▪
He never lost his sense of humor, even when he was half asleep .
▪
Inside, the Porter was half asleep behind a newspaper.
▪
It was a hot day, and I think I must have been half asleep when I noticed something very strange.
▪
Most of the time they were half asleep , chatting about the weather.
▪
She stayed on top of him, half asleep still.
▪
Sorcerer felt dazed and half asleep , still dreaming wild dawn dreams.
▪
The old lady nodded, as if half asleep .
half measures
▪
I suppose I was never contented with half measures .
▪
Learn your trade fully, do the job properly - no half measures .
▪
The only alternative to Lloyd George's lies were Asquith's half measures .
▪
There's no half measures to playing this way.
half/full price
▪
We got all the furniture for half price .
▪
At full price the set demands as much.
▪
First, he has devised a way of buying the ground at less than half price .
▪
I can't feel that this music as presented here is an attractive proposition at full price .
▪
If the guest took up the booking, the deposit was part payment of the full price .
▪
Most men's and women's clothing half price .
▪
On Sundays from 3 p. m. to 5 p. m., admission is half price .
▪
They was rubbish, and they was full price .
▪
Visalia bought a swimming pool at half price because its employees were unencumbered by line item budgets.
it's six of one and half a dozen of the other
sb sees the glass as half-empty/half-full
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
After an hour and a half , you too may find yourself chanting, Save us Jackie, save us.
▪
Especially since I said to David about a week and a half ago and then.
▪
It was even Steven in the second half , but towards the end Gloucester roared into life.
▪
Slice loin and place on other half of plate; drizzle with oil and sprinkle with basil.
▪
The home side went ahead through Thierry Henry in the first half and Nwankwo Kanu in the second.
▪
The referee added seven minutes of injury time in a stop-start first half .
III. adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
asleep
▪
The old lady nodded, as if half asleep .
▪
He never lost his sense of humor, even when he was half asleep .
▪
Old men with their faces in the page, half asleep , here to escape whatever is out there.
empty
▪
The long room was half dark, and half empty .
▪
Most of the correspondents had gone now; the room was half empty .
full
▪
Allows two bikes at a time in wheelchair areas of all buses, provided the bus is less than half full .
▪
The glass is always half full in our land of optimists.
▪
With her, the glass is always half full .
▪
Kaiser hospitals in Northern California are about half full , and several of them need replacement or modernization.
▪
Our car was half full , and we were assigned to a row by ourselves.
▪
That drawer was only half full .
▪
But I prefer to see the glass as half full , not half empty.
naked
▪
He drifts round the corner, half naked .
▪
Cold and half naked in the darkened bedroom, Cantor felt the day had taken a shape for the worse.
▪
Her eyes widened, glowing at the half naked girl beside her.
right
▪
Sklare was half right in his explanation.
■ VERB
close
▪
He half closed his eyes, deliberately losing focus until the sea was a vast grey void.
▪
There was a bedroom off to the side, its door half closed , also for buyers and their guests.
▪
She half closed her eyes, but she knew that the picture she presented was anything but detached.
▪
One of his eyes was half closed , and he wore a big hat which covered most of his head.
dress
▪
Some in pyjamas, others half dressed suddenly lined up to take their tea and pills.
▪
Children, som-e only toddlers, played half dressed in the sand at their feet.
expect
▪
He half expected to see some naked tourist in the corner, bound and gagged.
▪
Can't say we didn't half expect it, I suppose, by this time.
▪
She half expected to see bloodstains.
▪
He had been half expecting a confession.
▪
And she had half expected that he would follow her and continue the argument.
▪
Rodo glanced confusedly up at the ceiling, half expecting the roof to collapse in on him.
▪
Dorcas was half expecting the car to follow them.
hide
▪
Further along the grassy track, half hidden behind trees, a church roof can be glimpsed.
▪
Her right hand rests on her knee, her left is half hidden in a pocket.
▪
Clifford Bradley had half hidden himself from the rest of the company behind the table holding the model of the new Laboratory.
▪
A man at the train station stood watching, half hidden in the crowd.
▪
He had the skull half hidden in his lap and his little hand stroked the smooth bone, gently and rhythmically.
▪
Her eyes ran down the black jacket to where the man's watch was half hidden by a white cuff.
▪
A small wooden door, set into the stone wall, and half hidden beneath the hanging tendrils of a climbing rose.
turn
▪
I half turned on the stool.
▪
She half turned but thought better of it.
▪
She half turned to look at the figure beside her and this proved a near fatal mistake.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"That's good," he said dully, putting down his half -eaten sandwich.
▪
Her first album is now half finished and is due out later this year.
▪
I found him sitting on his bed, half -dressed.
▪
The houses were half -submerged by the flood water.
▪
There was a half -smoked cigarette in the ashtray.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
But LeRoy, he got one half again as big.
▪
By this time the poor charioteer was half fainting with terror, and he let the reins fall.
▪
Cold and half naked in the darkened bedroom, Cantor felt the day had taken a shape for the worse.
▪
Her right hand rests on her knee, her left is half hidden in a pocket.
▪
It struck me that there was nothing there half so beautiful as the vision just presented by its derelict predecessor.
▪
Miss Russell had a morbid fear of sunlight fading carpets and furnishings, so the curtains were half drawn as usual.
▪
She half fell, half collapsed against it, unable to stop the tears of fear and anguish pouring down her face.
▪
That's 45 percent more than in 1990, but virtually half as many as visited the Paris show.