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half pay

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noun
  1. half one's regular pay.
  2. a reduced amount paid to a British army or navy officer when not in actual service or after retirement.
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Origin of half pay

First recorded in 1655–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for half pay

Historical Examples

  • Her establishment was not only diminished, but her servants reduced to half-pay.

    Handel

    Edward J. Dent

  • She had just his half-pay to live on—it amounted to about a pound a week.

    Tales Of Hearsay

    Joseph Conrad

  • I was a major after Waterloo; the Bourbons put me aside on half-pay.

  • You are a half-pay officer, and are at leisure to command the garrison: but where is the castle?

    Crotchet Castle

    Thomas Love Peacock

  • The object was the contemptible one of robbing him of his half-pay.