half-hour

[ haf-ouuh r, -ou-er, hahf- ]

/ ˈhæfˈaʊər, -ˈaʊ ər, ˈhɑf- /

noun

a period of 30 minutes.

the midpoint between the hours: The clock struck on the half-hour.

adjective

of, relating to, or consisting of a half-hour: half-hour programs.

Origin of half-hour

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for half-hour

As an election tactic, it was a Hail-Mary move: a half-hour address by an aging actor of no political standing or constituency.
Remembering Reagan’s Defining Speech|Stuart Stevens|October 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The ferries run every half-hour to the Russian mainland, but they take only a few dozen cars on each trip.
Crimea: A Patriotic Russian Vacation From Hell|Anna Nemtsova|August 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He would spend at least a half-hour being decontaminated afterward.
‘He Could Have Brought Ebola Here’: Minnesota Widow on Her Husband|Michael Daly|July 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A year earlier the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC had expanded to a half-hour.
Lyndon Johnson’s Last Miracle: The Civil Rights Act Turns 50|Nicolaus Mills|July 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST

McMinnville, Tennessee is less than a half-hour from “the farm” where the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival takes place.
Tennessee Not Impressed By Bonnaroo|Daniel G. Hill|June 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"I was somewhere about this spot when the half-hour struck last night, for your clocks were fast," remarked Rupert.
Trevlyn Hold|Mrs. Henry Wood
If you could but slip for one half-hour into your mad brother's skin.
Margery [Gred], Complete|Georg Ebers
And we fought there a half-hour by the clock, till our breath failed us, and never a blow could we get home on one another.
Sir Ludar|Talbot Baines Reed
A child from three to six years old will require from ten drops to half a teaspoon of the syrup every half-hour till relieved.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia|Marion Cabell Tyree
"See what this man says: 'If you will only deign to grant me one half-hour,'" she repeated, with an imitation of languor.
Sister Carrie|Theodore Dreiser

British Dictionary definitions for half-hour

half-hour

noun

a period of 30 minutes
(as modifier)a half-hour stint on the treadmill

the point of time 30 minutes after the beginning of an hour
(as modifier)a half-hour chime

Derived Formshalf-hourly, adverb, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for half-hour