half pay
Americannoun
-
half one's regular pay.
-
a reduced amount paid to a British army or navy officer when not in actual service or after retirement.
Etymology
Origin of half pay
First recorded in 1655–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Teachers get four weeks at full pay, followed by two weeks at 90% of pay, followed by 12 weeks of half pay topped up with the statutory maternity pay.
From BBC • Aug. 1, 2024
At the casino, she pushed for new mothers to get full salary for maternity leave instead of half pay.
From Reuters • Jan. 6, 2022
They survived the pandemic — Bilal was on half pay for a while, but the government made up the other half.
From New York Times • Dec. 21, 2021
I was in school in England when this happened, and I worried about the effect of this half pay on my family; things had been bad enough on my father’s full pay.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 30, 2019
I only half pay attention when he reads, because Gat has not kissed me or reached out to me since we agreed to act normal.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
