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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

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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

It consists of two turns around a spar or ring, then a half hitch around the standing part and through the turns on the spar, and another half hitch above it around the standing part.

From Boy Scouts Handbook The First Edition, 1911 by Boy Scouts of America

He must have made that half hitch carelessly.

From Ralph Granger's Fortunes by William Perry Brown

It consists in making two long bights in a rope, which shall overlay one another; then taking a half hitch over the end of each bight, with the standing part, which is next to it.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher

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

His pony bolted as the half-hitch of the rawhide thong on its lower jaw was loosened and the rider, toppling, fell heavily backward to the ground.

From The Mountain Divide by Armand Both

He twisted sidewise in the saddle, took a half-hitch with the reins around the saddle-horn, and proceeded to manufacture a cigarette while he went on with the burlesque.

From The Ranch at the Wolverine by B. M. Bower

The midshipman's hitch is made by taking a half-hitch around the standing part and a round turn twice around above it.

From Knots, Splices and Rope Work A Practical Treatise by A. Hyatt (Alpheus Hyatt) Verrill

Allow about seven inches of rope, then take a couple of turns around the left fetlock, make a half-hitch and tie the rest of your rope about the pony's neck.

From Bob Chester's Grit From Ranch to Riches by Frank V. Webster

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