halflingn.adj.

Brit.

/ˈhɑːflɪŋ/, U.S.

/ˈhæflɪŋ/, Scottish English

/ˈhaflɪŋ/,

/ˈhaflɪn/, Irish English /ˈhaːflɪŋ/

Forms: 1700s– halfling; English regional (northern) 1800s haflin, 1800s hawflin, 1800s hoafen (Lancashire), 1800s hoaflin (Cumberland); Scottish pre-1700 1700s–1800s haflin, pre-1700 1700s– halflin, pre-1700 1700s– halfling, 1700s hafline, 1700s half'lin (probably transmission error), 1700s–1800s hafflin, 1700s– halflin', 1800s haaflan, 1800s hafflin', 1800s ha'flin', 1800s hauflin', 1800s– halflan, 1800s– hauflin, 1900s halflon, 1900s– haflen; also Irish English (northern) 1800s halflin.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: half n., -ling suffix¹.

Etymology: < half n. + -ling suffix¹. Compare earlier halfling adv. and halflang adj.Some later Scots forms could alternatively be interpreted as reduced forms of halflang adj. and n. (compare e.g. halflan, haaflan); the two words can be difficult to distinguish in Scots in some senses and there appears to be mutual influence. Specific senses. With sense A. 1 compare Middle High German halbling half-grown animal. Compare youngling n. and with use as adjective (sense B. 3) youngling adj. With sense A. 2 compare (with i-mutation of the base element) Old English hielfling translating classical Latin dupondius dupondius n. (early Middle English helfling ; compare discussion at halfpenny n.); this is cognate with or formed similarly to Middle Dutch hellinc (chiefly Limburg), Old Saxon helfling (Middle Low German hellinc ), Old High German helbiling (Middle High German helbelinc , helblinc , German Helbling ), and (without i-mutation in the first element) Old Frisian halling , Middle Dutch hallinc (earlier in bynames), Old Saxon halfling (Middle Low German hallinc , rare), all denoting a coin of low value worth half a penny (now historical; in later use sometimes influenced by heller n.¹), and parallel derivatives in different sense in North Germanic languages (compare Old Icelandic helmingr a half). In Old English the word is rare in comparison to similarly-formed fēorþling ferling n.; compare the following isolated use:OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xii. 6 Ne becypað hig fif spearwan to helflinge [OE Cambr. Univ. Libr. ælflinge, c1175 Royal helflinge; L. dipundio], & an nis of þam ofergyten beforan Gode? Currency of the word in early Middle English in a different sense is implied by post-classical Latin helflingum , denoting a measure of a salt pan (12th cent.). In use with reference to Hobbits (see sense A. 3a) the word was subsequently stated by Tolkien to have been coined by himself (apparently without reference to earlier use of persons in sense A. 1); the formation refers to the height of Hobbits as compared to men. Although attested earliest in quot. ?c1944 at sense A. 3a (a draft published posthumously), the word is first attested in a published work in 1954. For further details and discussion see P. Gilliver et al. Ring of Words (2006) 139–40. With use as adjective in sense B. 1 compare earlier halflings adv. and halfling adv.; compare also later halflings adj. However, compare also earlier halflang adj. 2. With sense B. 3 compare earlier halflang adj. 3.

A. n.

1. Scottish, Irish English (northern), and English regional (northern). A boy or girl who is not yet fully grown; a youth, an adolescent. Formerly sometimes: spec. †a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > young person > youth or young man > [noun]

frumberdlingc1000

young manOE

childc1225

hind1297

pagec1300

youtha1325

fawnc1369

swainc1386

stripling1398

boy1440

springaldc1450

jovencel1490

younkera1522

speara1529

gorrel1530

lad1535

hobbledehoy1540

cockerel1547

waga1556

spring1559

loonc1560

hensure1568

youngster1577

imp1578

pigsney1581

cocklinga1586

demy1589

muchacho1591

shaver1592

snipper-snappera1593

callant1597

spaught1598

stubble boy1598

ghillie1603

codling1612

cuba1616

skippera1616

man-boy1637

sprig1646

callow1651

halflang1660

stubbed boy1683

gossoon1684

gilpie1718

stirraha1722

young lion1792

halfling1794

pubescent1795

young man1810

sixteener1824

señorito1843

tad1845

boysie1846

shaveling1854

ephebe1880

boychick1921

lightie1946

young blood1967

studmuffin1986

1656 Edinb. Quarter Session 26 Mar. in C. H. Firth Scotl. & Protectorate (1899) App. 407 A Man Servant of younger Years, commonly called a Halfling, being a Domestick Servant, is to have Yearly for Fee..Twenty Merks Scots.

1662 in H. Paton Reg. Interments Greyfriars Burying-ground (1902) 1 Thomas [Abel], a haflin.

1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 358 Sae, lass, gin ye ha'e ony thrift, And I can mak' a haflin shift.

1794 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. XII. 304 Wages of a man servant £10..Of a haflin, £5.

1805 R. Anderson Ballads in Cumberland Dial. 92 She'd little to de, To tek sec a hawflin as he.

1849 M. Oliphant Passages Life Margaret Maitland II. iv. 130 When I was a halflin, no far past the years of Mary, my niece.

1889 Belfast News-let. 17 Oct. 4/1 Bakers.—40 wanted:..Ovensmen: 32s to 35s; Halflins, 20s to 24s.

a1930 N. Munro Son of City in B. D. Osborne & R. Armstrong Erchie & Jimmy Swan (1993) i. viii. 37 Fine I ken whit the country is; did I no' leeve a hale winter aboot Dalry when I was a halflin'?

1998 S. Blackhall Bonsai Grower 19 The hinmaist loon tae bide in the chaumer hid bin a pee-the-bed halflin frae Glen Dav.

†2. An English silver coin equal in value to half an old silver penny. Obsolete.Chiefly with reference to Anglo-Saxon England.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > other miscellaneous English coins

baselinga1255

scute1472

basel1577

lundress1695

halfling1819

wire money1837

brabant1840

fifty-pence piece1969

twenty-pence piece1981

1774 R. Henry Hist. Great Brit. II. vi. 488 Names of Anglo-Saxon money... The Halfling, or Halfpenny.

1778 J. Strutt Chron. Eng. II. iii. vi. 234 The halfling, so called from its being the half of a penny, is..reported to have been a real silver coin, and, if it was weight, it should have been 11 grains, or thereabout.

1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe I. vii. 98 ‘Not a shekel, not a silver penny, not a halfling’..said the Jew.

1876 All Year Round 9 Dec. 294/2 The penny, succeeded by halflings and feorthlings, also of silver.

3. In fantasy fiction, games, etc.

a. A member of an imaginary race of small people. Originally in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien as the name given to Hobbits (hobbit n.) by the other races or peoples of Middle-earth (cf. middle-earth n. 1).

?c1944 J. R. R. Tolkien in C. Tolkien Hist. Middle-earth: War of Ring (1990) 149 If you be the Halfling that was named, then doubtless you held it before the eyes of all the Council of which you speak.

1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. ii. 259 For Isildur's Bane shall waken, And the Halfling forth shall stand.

1966 Eng. Jrnl. 55 844/2 The Second Age is dying, the Third Age is at evening, and only the Halflings survive.

2006 PC Gamer Apr. 49/1 The action revolves around a classic quest format in which you—as an Elf, Human or Halfling—must form a fellowship of adventurers to take on missions.

b. An imaginary being who is the offspring of a human and a member of an imaginary race of people or creatures, or of members of two different imaginary races.

1953 L. Brackett Sword of Rhiannon viii. 47 There were also the Halflings—the races who are manlike but not descended of the same blood. The Swimmers, who sprang from the sea-creatures, and the Sky Folk, who came from the winged things.

1994 Interzone Oct. 63/3 Turns out he's a halfling, half the mortal son of a chess-playing dad who wins his fairy bride from one of the deathside peers of the Sidhe, and half the fairy son of that bride.

2020 A. R. Vagnetti Forbidden Storm (e-book, accessed 19 May 2022) ii. 16 The night Nicki discovered vampires existed, she further learned who and what she was: a vampire halfling.

B. adj.

†1. Scottish. Partial, imperfect, incomplete. Cf. halflang adj. 2, half adj. 3. Obsolete.

a1661 S. Rutherford Cruel Watchmen (1728) 28 I love Christ, says the Mid-way Man, or the Halfling Man, as well as the best of them.

1705 Observator No. 2. 14 There were a great many Gentlemen, hafline Gentlemen, and Honest men's bairns among them.

1791 J. Learmont Poems Pastoral 1 Some outlandish half'lin [sic] creatures Nae o' God's mak.

1841 J. Imlah Poems & Songs 264 A haflin being, man, thou art, Without a fairer, better part.

1897 T. Murray Frae Heather 109 His halflin proffers thoroughly scan Afore ye plight yer troth.

2. Scottish. Of an object: half the full or normal size, length, etc.; (more generally) of reduced or intermediate size. Frequently in halfling plane: a trying plane used by carpenters. Now rare.

1780 Aberdeen Jrnl. 31 July (advt.) Large Iron Sways, halfling and quarter Irons, Pinches, breaking Hammers and Mells, Picks, Jumpers and charging Tools.

a1866 W. Knight Auld Yule (1869) 85 But sair he miss'd the hauflin boots, Mid cracklin' whins and knabblick roots.

1937 St Andrews Times 15 Dec. 2 We had to plane it doon wi' a halflin plane and then wi' a jack plane.

1980 Rep. Board Trustees National Mus. Antiquaries Scotl. 1979–80 32 Butter bowie, butter knife, set of wooden eggcups, two pirn tops, halflin plane, Wanzer plaiting machine.

3. Chiefly Scottish. Not yet fully grown; adolescent; (also) of or relating to an adolescent or adolescence. Formerly sometimes with specific reference to a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > young person > [adjective] > adolescent

adolescent1481

undergrown1601

pubescent1646

halfling1801

halflang1805

teenish1811

halfling1815

teening1818

puberala1856

puberate1880

pre-adult1899

teenage1912

teenaged1913

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xi. 185 My mother sent me, that was a hafflin callant.

1819 Scots Mag. Mar. 220/1 When she was a hafflin' cummer, about sixteen years of age.

1895 G. Williams Scarbraes 50 Willie Simpson, now ‘a ha'flin' birkie’, was engaged by Kirkton as his ‘orra man’.

1904 Dennison's Orcadian Sketches (new ed.) 1 I keepid kye that summer, and wroucht halflin' wark the year efter.

a1930 N. Munro Degenerate Days in B. D. Osborne & R. Armstrong Erchie & Jimmy Swan (1993) i. iii. 11 In the auld days they didna drag a halflin callan in frae Stra'ven [etc.].

1991 K. Armstrong in T. Hubbard New Makars 113 Aince, lang syne, in ma halflin days.

4. In fantasy fiction, games, etc.: designating a halfling (see sense A. 3); of, relating to, or characteristic of halflings.

1953 L. Brackett Sword of Rhiannon xiii. 87 You have Halfling wisdom—is there no way to be rid of the monstrous thing within me?

1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers iii. viii. 163 All that is said among us is that far away, over many hills and rivers, live the halfling folk that dwell in holes in sand-dunes.

1973 Mythlore No. 9 8/1 In this footnote the name of Theoden's halfling esquire is given as Holdwine.

1992 Dragon Mag. Feb. 7/2 The DM can ‘forbid elven, gnome and halfling Assassin..since this profession is quite antithetical to their cultures’.

2002 L. A. Griffith Dark Embrace (e-book, accessed 19 May 2022) 626 One's a master werewolf, one's a halfling vampire, and one's a dragon king.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).

单词	halfling
释义	halflingn.adj. Brit. /ˈhɑːflɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈhæflɪŋ/, Scottish English /ˈhaflɪŋ/, /ˈhaflɪn/, Irish English /ˈhaːflɪŋ/ Forms: 1700s– halfling; English regional (northern) 1800s haflin, 1800s hawflin, 1800s hoafen (Lancashire), 1800s hoaflin (Cumberland); Scottish pre-1700 1700s–1800s haflin, pre-1700 1700s– halflin, pre-1700 1700s– halfling, 1700s hafline, 1700s half'lin (probably transmission error), 1700s–1800s hafflin, 1700s– halflin', 1800s haaflan, 1800s hafflin', 1800s ha'flin', 1800s hauflin', 1800s– halflan, 1800s– hauflin, 1900s halflon, 1900s– haflen; also Irish English (northern) 1800s halflin. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: half n., -ling suffix¹. Etymology: < half n. + -ling suffix¹. Compare earlier halfling adv. and halflang adj.Some later Scots forms could alternatively be interpreted as reduced forms of halflang adj. and n. (compare e.g. halflan, haaflan); the two words can be difficult to distinguish in Scots in some senses and there appears to be mutual influence. Specific senses. With sense A. 1 compare Middle High German halbling half-grown animal. Compare youngling n. and with use as adjective (sense B. 3) youngling adj. With sense A. 2 compare (with i-mutation of the base element) Old English hielfling translating classical Latin dupondius dupondius n. (early Middle English helfling ; compare discussion at halfpenny n.); this is cognate with or formed similarly to Middle Dutch hellinc (chiefly Limburg), Old Saxon helfling (Middle Low German hellinc ), Old High German helbiling (Middle High German helbelinc , helblinc , German Helbling ), and (without i-mutation in the first element) Old Frisian halling , Middle Dutch hallinc (earlier in bynames), Old Saxon halfling (Middle Low German hallinc , rare), all denoting a coin of low value worth half a penny (now historical; in later use sometimes influenced by heller n.¹), and parallel derivatives in different sense in North Germanic languages (compare Old Icelandic helmingr a half). In Old English the word is rare in comparison to similarly-formed fēorþling ferling n.; compare the following isolated use:OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xii. 6 Ne becypað hig fif spearwan to helflinge [OE Cambr. Univ. Libr. ælflinge, c1175 Royal helflinge; L. dipundio], & an nis of þam ofergyten beforan Gode? Currency of the word in early Middle English in a different sense is implied by post-classical Latin helflingum , denoting a measure of a salt pan (12th cent.). In use with reference to Hobbits (see sense A. 3a) the word was subsequently stated by Tolkien to have been coined by himself (apparently without reference to earlier use of persons in sense A. 1); the formation refers to the height of Hobbits as compared to men. Although attested earliest in quot. ?c1944 at sense A. 3a (a draft published posthumously), the word is first attested in a published work in 1954. For further details and discussion see P. Gilliver et al. Ring of Words (2006) 139–40. With use as adjective in sense B. 1 compare earlier halflings adv. and halfling adv.; compare also later halflings adj. However, compare also earlier halflang adj. 2. With sense B. 3 compare earlier halflang adj. 3. A. n. 1. Scottish, Irish English (northern), and English regional (northern). A boy or girl who is not yet fully grown; a youth, an adolescent. Formerly sometimes: spec. †a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > young person > youth or young man > [noun] frumberdlingc1000 young manOE childc1225 hind1297 pagec1300 youtha1325 fawnc1369 swainc1386 stripling1398 boy1440 springaldc1450 jovencel1490 younkera1522 speara1529 gorrel1530 lad1535 hobbledehoy1540 cockerel1547 waga1556 spring1559 loonc1560 hensure1568 youngster1577 imp1578 pigsney1581 cocklinga1586 demy1589 muchacho1591 shaver1592 snipper-snappera1593 callant1597 spaught1598 stubble boy1598 ghillie1603 codling1612 cuba1616 skippera1616 man-boy1637 sprig1646 callow1651 halflang1660 stubbed boy1683 gossoon1684 gilpie1718 stirraha1722 young lion1792 halfling1794 pubescent1795 young man1810 sixteener1824 señorito1843 tad1845 boysie1846 shaveling1854 ephebe1880 boychick1921 lightie1946 young blood1967 studmuffin1986 1656 Edinb. Quarter Session 26 Mar. in C. H. Firth Scotl. & Protectorate (1899) App. 407 A Man Servant of younger Years, commonly called a Halfling, being a Domestick Servant, is to have Yearly for Fee..Twenty Merks Scots. 1662 in H. Paton Reg. Interments Greyfriars Burying-ground (1902) 1 Thomas [Abel], a haflin. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 358 Sae, lass, gin ye ha'e ony thrift, And I can mak' a haflin shift. 1794 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. XII. 304 Wages of a man servant £10..Of a haflin, £5. 1805 R. Anderson Ballads in Cumberland Dial. 92 She'd little to de, To tek sec a hawflin as he. 1849 M. Oliphant Passages Life Margaret Maitland II. iv. 130 When I was a halflin, no far past the years of Mary, my niece. 1889 Belfast News-let. 17 Oct. 4/1 Bakers.—40 wanted:..Ovensmen: 32s to 35s; Halflins, 20s to 24s. a1930 N. Munro Son of City in B. D. Osborne & R. Armstrong Erchie & Jimmy Swan (1993) i. viii. 37 Fine I ken whit the country is; did I no' leeve a hale winter aboot Dalry when I was a halflin'? 1998 S. Blackhall Bonsai Grower 19 The hinmaist loon tae bide in the chaumer hid bin a pee-the-bed halflin frae Glen Dav. †2. An English silver coin equal in value to half an old silver penny. Obsolete.Chiefly with reference to Anglo-Saxon England. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > other miscellaneous English coins baselinga1255 scute1472 basel1577 lundress1695 halfling1819 wire money1837 brabant1840 fifty-pence piece1969 twenty-pence piece1981 1774 R. Henry Hist. Great Brit. II. vi. 488 Names of Anglo-Saxon money... The Halfling, or Halfpenny. 1778 J. Strutt Chron. Eng. II. iii. vi. 234 The halfling, so called from its being the half of a penny, is..reported to have been a real silver coin, and, if it was weight, it should have been 11 grains, or thereabout. 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe I. vii. 98 ‘Not a shekel, not a silver penny, not a halfling’..said the Jew. 1876 All Year Round 9 Dec. 294/2 The penny, succeeded by halflings and feorthlings, also of silver. 3. In fantasy fiction, games, etc. a. A member of an imaginary race of small people. Originally in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien as the name given to Hobbits (hobbit n.) by the other races or peoples of Middle-earth (cf. middle-earth n. 1). Π ?c1944 J. R. R. Tolkien in C. Tolkien Hist. Middle-earth: War of Ring (1990) 149 If you be the Halfling that was named, then doubtless you held it before the eyes of all the Council of which you speak. 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. ii. 259 For Isildur's Bane shall waken, And the Halfling forth shall stand. 1966 Eng. Jrnl. 55 844/2 The Second Age is dying, the Third Age is at evening, and only the Halflings survive. 2006 PC Gamer Apr. 49/1 The action revolves around a classic quest format in which you—as an Elf, Human or Halfling—must form a fellowship of adventurers to take on missions. b. An imaginary being who is the offspring of a human and a member of an imaginary race of people or creatures, or of members of two different imaginary races. Π 1953 L. Brackett Sword of Rhiannon viii. 47 There were also the Halflings—the races who are manlike but not descended of the same blood. The Swimmers, who sprang from the sea-creatures, and the Sky Folk, who came from the winged things. 1994 Interzone Oct. 63/3 Turns out he's a halfling, half the mortal son of a chess-playing dad who wins his fairy bride from one of the deathside peers of the Sidhe, and half the fairy son of that bride. 2020 A. R. Vagnetti Forbidden Storm (e-book, accessed 19 May 2022) ii. 16 The night Nicki discovered vampires existed, she further learned who and what she was: a vampire halfling. B. adj. †1. Scottish. Partial, imperfect, incomplete. Cf. halflang adj. 2, half adj. 3. Obsolete. Π a1661 S. Rutherford Cruel Watchmen (1728) 28 I love Christ, says the Mid-way Man, or the Halfling Man, as well as the best of them. 1705 Observator No. 2. 14 There were a great many Gentlemen, hafline Gentlemen, and Honest men's bairns among them. 1791 J. Learmont Poems Pastoral 1 Some outlandish half'lin [sic] creatures Nae o' God's mak. 1841 J. Imlah Poems & Songs 264 A haflin being, man, thou art, Without a fairer, better part. 1897 T. Murray Frae Heather 109 His halflin proffers thoroughly scan Afore ye plight yer troth. 2. Scottish. Of an object: half the full or normal size, length, etc.; (more generally) of reduced or intermediate size. Frequently in halfling plane: a trying plane used by carpenters. Now rare. Π 1780 Aberdeen Jrnl. 31 July (advt.) Large Iron Sways, halfling and quarter Irons, Pinches, breaking Hammers and Mells, Picks, Jumpers and charging Tools. a1866 W. Knight Auld Yule (1869) 85 But sair he miss'd the hauflin boots, Mid cracklin' whins and knabblick roots. 1937 St Andrews Times 15 Dec. 2 We had to plane it doon wi' a halflin plane and then wi' a jack plane. 1980 Rep. Board Trustees National Mus. Antiquaries Scotl. 1979–80 32 Butter bowie, butter knife, set of wooden eggcups, two pirn tops, halflin plane, Wanzer plaiting machine. 3. Chiefly Scottish. Not yet fully grown; adolescent; (also) of or relating to an adolescent or adolescence. Formerly sometimes with specific reference to a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > young person > [adjective] > adolescent adolescent1481 undergrown1601 pubescent1646 halfling1801 halflang1805 teenish1811 halfling1815 teening1818 puberala1856 puberate1880 pre-adult1899 teenage1912 teenaged1913 1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xi. 185 My mother sent me, that was a hafflin callant. 1819 Scots Mag. Mar. 220/1 When she was a hafflin' cummer, about sixteen years of age. 1895 G. Williams Scarbraes 50 Willie Simpson, now ‘a ha'flin' birkie’, was engaged by Kirkton as his ‘orra man’. 1904 Dennison's Orcadian Sketches (new ed.) 1 I keepid kye that summer, and wroucht halflin' wark the year efter. a1930 N. Munro Degenerate Days in B. D. Osborne & R. Armstrong Erchie & Jimmy Swan (1993) i. iii. 11 In the auld days they didna drag a halflin callan in frae Stra'ven [etc.]. 1991 K. Armstrong in T. Hubbard New Makars 113 Aince, lang syne, in ma halflin days. 4. In fantasy fiction, games, etc.: designating a halfling (see sense A. 3); of, relating to, or characteristic of halflings. Π 1953 L. Brackett Sword of Rhiannon xiii. 87 You have Halfling wisdom—is there no way to be rid of the monstrous thing within me? 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers iii. viii. 163 All that is said among us is that far away, over many hills and rivers, live the halfling folk that dwell in holes in sand-dunes. 1973 Mythlore No. 9 8/1 In this footnote the name of Theoden's halfling esquire is given as Holdwine. 1992 Dragon Mag. Feb. 7/2 The DM can ‘forbid elven, gnome and halfling Assassin..since this profession is quite antithetical to their cultures’. 2002 L. A. Griffith Dark Embrace (e-book, accessed 19 May 2022) 626 One's a master werewolf, one's a halfling vampire, and one's a dragon king. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022). † halflingadv. Forms: Old English healflinga, Old English healflunga, Old English helflinga (perhaps transmission error), early Middle English halflingue, early Middle English halflung, early Middle English halflunge, Middle English halflyng, Middle English haluelinge; Scottish pre-1700 halfling, 1700s haflen. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: half adj., -ling suffix². Etymology: < half adj. + -ling suffix², perhaps originally as an alteration of halfing adv. (compare quot. OE¹). Compare also halflings adv. and alling adv.Compare Scots haflin-wise partially, half (1887), which may imply later currency of the word, although it could alternatively show phonological reduction of the first element of earlier hafflins-wise (1786; < halflings adj. + -wise comb. form). Obsolete (Scottish after 15th cent.). To the extent or amount of half; (more generally) in part, partially; to a certain extent, in some degree. Cf. half adv. 1, halflings adv. 1. Π OE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Trin.) (Dict. Old Eng. transcript) (1871) xxxi. 207 Be þam sceamfæstan hyt ys nyttere þæt him man on tælan wylle, þæt hyt man healflinga [eOE Hatton healfunga] sprece swylce hyt man hrepige. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Cambr. Ii.4.6) (Dict. Old Eng. transcript) (1997) viii. 245 Þes hundredes ealdor genealæhte þam hælende: na healflunga [OE Royal healfunga] ac fulfremedlice. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 261 He nis bute halflung up on godes rode. c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 106 Haluelinge j foryat grace dieu. c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) xlix Thus halflyng lous for haste. c1550 Clariodus (1830) iv. 1789 So com ane buke by him at the last, Into his way, halfling him againe. a1586 in R. Maitland Genealogy House & Surname Setoun (1830) 47 He for sorrow halfling deit. 1726 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd (ed. 2) iv. ii. 63 Duty, and haflen Reason plead his Cause. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022). ˈhalflinghalflingsadv. Forms: α. Middle English halflunge, Middle English halflyng, halvelinge, 1700s haflen, 1800s haflin. β. Middle English ( Orm.) hallflinngess, 1500s halflingis, 1700s haf(f)lins. Etymology: α. < Old English type healflunga ; β. with adverbial genitive ending -es* , -s . Compare alling adv., allings adv. Now only Sc. a. To the extent of a half, half; in part, partially. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > [adverb] halfling?c1200 a-party1340 uncompletelyc1380 imperfectlyc1400 parcel1415 party1440 unfullyc1449 parcel-likea1475 partiallya1475 halflyc1480 a part1481 parta1500 parcelly gilt1509 diminutely1521 partly1523 partlings1564 portionally1617 incompletely1651 informedly1670 fragmentally1814 fragmentarily1856 part-way1954 α. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 261 He nis bute halflung up on godes rode. 1423 Kingis Quair xlix, Thus halflyng louse for haste. c1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode (1869) ii. lxxxv. 106 Haluelinge j foryat Grace dieu. β. ?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 16575 Off swillke þatt hemm turrndenn swa. Hallflinngess to þe laferrd.a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) 168 Than vp I lenyt halflingis in affrey.1592 Lyndesay's Wks. Prol. 3 (Jam.), I stude gazing halflingis in ane trance.1786 R. Burns Cotter's Saturday Night vii, in Poems & Songs (1968) I. 147 While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak.?1795 H. Macneill Scotland's Scaith 12 Haflins seen and haflins hid. b. quasi-adj. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > young person > [adjective] > adolescent adolescent1481 undergrown1601 pubescent1646 halfling1801 halflang1805 teenish1811 halfling1815 teening1818 puberala1856 puberate1880 pre-adult1899 teenage1912 teenaged1913 1801 R. Gall Tint Quey 175 Wi' Habby Græme the haflins fool. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet I. xi. 224 My father was then a haflins callant. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2016). < n.adj.1656adv.OEadv.?c1200
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halflingn.adj.

† halflingadv.

ˈhalflinghalflingsadv.