half-miler

American  

[haf-mahy-ler, hahf-] / ˈhæfˈmaɪ lər, ˈhɑf- /

noun

Informal.

1. a half-mile race.

2. a runner who participates or specializes in such a race.

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half-miler British  

noun

1. a runner who specializes in running races over half a mile or a similar metric distance

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Etymology

Origin of half-miler

First recorded in 1930–35; half-mile + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Diglio, a history teacher at North Rockland, had a “completely undistinguished” career as a half-miler at William & Mary.

From New York Times • Jun. 8, 2018

He received an athletic scholarship to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he became captain of the cross-country and track teams and the school’s fastest half-miler.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 19, 2017

She has gone from being very good to being, potentially, the greatest half-miler in the history of women’s running.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 12, 2016

He competed in track and cross country -not basketball - in high school in Rye, New York, where he was a quarter- and half-miler.

From Washington Times • Nov. 2, 2014

I see McCurdy himself, afterward, standing near one of the—the handgars—handsome young chap, not over twenty-eight or thirty, built like a half-miler.

From Our Mr. Wrenn, the Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man by Lewis, Sinclair