noun
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rugby either the scrum half or the stand-off half
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old-fashioned soccer any of three players positioned behind the line of forwards and in front of the fullbacks
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any of certain similar players in other team sports
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the position of a player who is halfback
Etymology
Origin of halfback
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Another halfback, Ray Williams, also starred and went to Washington State.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Apodaca, who played halfback at the University of New Mexico in the mid-1950s, was appointed in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter as chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
A quietly confident all-American halfback with a sharp intellect and quick reflexes, Davis was drawn by President John F. Kennedy’s vision of the Special Forces as a sort of counterinsurgency dream team.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
Watching from a few feet away, Lofton looked at Marcus Allen, the team’s star halfback.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2022
He was about to be a junior at the black high school, where he made all A’s and played halfback on the football team.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
