better half

American  

noun

1. a person's wife.

2. a person's husband.

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better half British  

noun

1. humorous one's spouse

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better half Idioms  

1. Also, better part . The larger amount or majority of something, as in I won't be long; the better half of this job is complete , or I have spent the better part of my life in this city . Sir Philip Sidney used the first term in Arcadia (1580): “I ... shall think the better half of it already achieved.” The variant appears in a well-known proverb, discretion is the better part of valor .

2. Also, my better half . One's (my) spouse, as in I'm not sure if we can go; I'll have to check with my better half . Originally this expression meant “a close friend or lover,” and by the 16th century it referred to either a wife or lover. Sidney used it in this way, again in Arcadia: “My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee.” Today it tends to be used lightly for either husband or wife. “Late 1500s”

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Etymology

Origin of better half

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Better half, indeed! fie on you, Miss Dinsmore! have you so little regard for the honor of your sex as to own that the man is ever that?

From Elsie's Girlhood A Sequel to "Elsie Dinsmore" and "Elsie's Holidays at Roselands" by Finley, Martha