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• half hitch
  half hitch

  noun

  a knot or hitch made by forming a bight and passing the end of the rope around the standing part and through the bight.
• half-hitch
  half-hitch

  noun

  a knot made by passing the end of a piece of rope around itself and through the loop thus made

half hitch

American  

noun

1. a knot or hitch made by forming a bight and passing the end of the rope around the standing part and through the bight.

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half-hitch British  

noun

1. a knot made by passing the end of a piece of rope around itself and through the loop thus made

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Etymology

Origin of half hitch

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

half hitch half-hitch

Given all this, I tried to make sense of the electronic shoreline with Anhinga, our 37-foot Bertram, rolling in a beam sea as the Whaler attempted to slip a half hitch around her wheels.

From Time Magazine Archive

Moreover, there was reason to suppose that all four had been bound by the same person: in all four instances the same type of knot, a half hitch, was used.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

When leading the dogs, the Esquimaux take a half hitch with the trace round their necks to prevent their pulling, and the same plan is followed when a sledge is left without a keeper. 

From Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage by Morley, Henry

“No, but it makes me mad to hear kids that 76 don’t know a half hitch from a square knot talking about getting in the gunners’ class!”

From Two Boys of the Battleship or For the Honor of Uncle Sam by Webster, Frank V.

Then I stick a stick down in the bank, two or three feet long, and take a half hitch around the top.

From The Young Alaskans on the Missouri by Hough, Emerson

When securing these lines, use a full wrap around the base of the cleat, at least one figure eight and a half-hitch cinched tight.

From Time Magazine Archive

"For God's sake, get a half-hitch on the saplin'!" called the cowboy.

From The Last of the Plainsmen by Grey, Zane

Hiram noted that the Cap'n's trembling hands were taking a half-hitch with a rope's end about a tiller-spoke.

From The Skipper and the Skipped Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul by Day, Holman

By making a half-hitch around this internode, the vine is held very firmly.

From Manual of American Grape-Growing by Hedrick, U. P.

Every time I get a half-hitch on that fellow, something turns up to make it slip.

From The Taming of Red Butte Western by Lynde, Francis