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half-inch

[haf-inch, hahf-]
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noun
  1. a half of an inch, equal to 1/24 of a foot (1.27 centimeters).
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Origin of half-inch

First recorded in 1810–20
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for half-inch

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Miss Ingleside had a half-inch strip of muslin over her shoulder.

    Malbone

    Thomas Wentworth Higginson

  • A bit horrified, I perceived that the pellet was embedded about a half-inch in.

    Highways in Hiding

    George Oliver Smith

  • Also, a backboard of half-inch board, to correspond (Fig. 14).

  • For ordinary purposes the half-inch size of hose is the best.

    Making a Lawn

    Luke Joseph Doogue

  • It was said afterward that a half-inch decided that touchdown.

    Left Guard Gilbert

    Ralph Henry Barbour

British Dictionary definitions for half-inch

half-inch

noun
  1. a measure of length approximately equivalent to 13 millimetres
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verb
  1. slang, old-fashioned to steal
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Word Origin

sense 2: from rhyming slang for pinch to steal
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