half pay
Americannoun
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half one's regular pay.
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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.
New NHS Wales Covid absence rules mean she will only receive half pay from this month and nothing from November.
From BBC • Jul. 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
A couple of years after this heart trouble, my father was put on half pay by the Trinidad Guardian, the newspaper for which he worked.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 30, 2019
Recent defectors from the group have indicated that many fighters are on half pay and some haven’t received salaries in months.
From Washington Post • Apr. 26, 2016
I half pay attention as they make plans.
From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks
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.
