half dayn.
/ˌhɑːf ˈdeɪ/, /ˈhɑːf deɪ/, U.S. /ˈhæf ˌdeɪ/, /ˌhæf ˈdeɪ/ Half of a day; esp. half of a conventional day of work, study, etc.; (also) half a day's holiday; half a day off.
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society > occupation and work > work > times or periods of work > [noun] > portion of day allotted to work > half a working day
half daya1400
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 921 (MED) Fel hyt on a satyrday A man hyred folke to ful pay; Þe half day ne halewd he noght, For al hole day hyt shulde be wroght.
1495 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VII (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1495 §62. m. 34 That noe artificer..working but the half day take no wagis but for the half day and nothing for þe halyday.
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. i. li. f. 175v By allowing 15. degr. to an houre, I finde the halfe day to containe 8. houres 10′. which being doubled maketh 16. houres 20′.
1603 T. Carew Certaine Godly & Necessarie Serm. sig. V4 By that time they haue attended about Clothiers other businesse many houres and halfe dayes for nothing.
1698 W. Salmon Rebuke to Authors of State of Physick in London 29 Not two whole days they can afford, nor yet two half days, but only two bits of an Afternoon.
1751 S. Richardson Clarissa (ed. 3) V. xxxvi. 317 Yet may we..make a good frolicky half-day with them.
1791 F. Burney Jrnl. 31 July (1972) I. 2 One precious half Day I was indulged with my kindest Mr. Lock.
1828 ‘M. Dods’ Cook & Housewife's Man. (ed. 3) iii. ii. 325 A French cook will give a half-day to the deliberate cookery of a ragout, which an English one would toss off in a half-hour.
1876 C. Schreiber Jrnls. (1911) I. 477 We found that we could not execute all our little shoppings.., because the Saturday is but a half-day.
1917 S. McKenna Ninety-six Hours' Leave xxiii. 294 The Kitten was standing behind his chair, caressing an extra half-day's growth on his chin.
1973 Daily Tel. 8 Feb. 1/1 The Shadow Cabinet decided to give up a half-day of its Parliamentary time to complete the debate in the Commons.
2019 Clydebank Post (Nexis) 1 Aug. Could you please..ask my boss to give me a half day tomorrow so I can get my hair, nails and face all done.
Compounds
C1. As a modifier.
a. With the sense ‘lasting half a day, spec. taking up half of the conventional working or school day’.
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1667 T. Vincent Christ's Appearance to Judgement viii. 93 You have seemed to give God a half-day service by your presence at Church one part of the day.
1847 New-Hampsh. Statesman & State Jrnl. 16 Apr. There are religious services for and by seamen in four stated places, instead of the old sail loft and half-day service at the time above spoken of.
1928 H. Bowden Let. 19 June in M. Williams Way to Lord's (1983) VIII. 153 The principle might well be applied to one-day and especially to half-day cricket.
1931 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 233 When he is six years old he enters the first grade, which is usually a half-day session.
1988 G. McCaughrean Pack of Lies i. 1 When it came to doing her fifth-year project on ‘People at Work’, somehow she got a half-day visit to the town library.
2012 National Trust Mag. Autumn 6/1 Put your survival skills to the test at this half-day bushcraft workshop.
b. With the sense ‘employed to work on, or only working, half-days’, as in half day teacher, etc.
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1722 London Clergys Petition against Quakers Affirmation Answer'd 3 One Preacher; and Two Half Day Preachers.
1838 R. Philip Life & Times G. Whitefield xxiii. 430 Whitefield preached..as much in a month as some of these clergymen did in a year! Such a contrast could hardly endear his company to half-day labourers.
1877 All Year Round 20 Jan. 440/2 Some of the half-day servants were girls of sixteen... They came in the morning, lighted the fires, got breakfast ready, [etc.].
1953 D. Whipple Someone at Distance i. 10 Maids had disappeared..long ago... Ellen now did as her neighbours did and employed day, or more properly, half-day, women.
1972 N.Y. Times 4 June iv. 12/1 (advt.) Sept openings. First Grade Teacher... Half-Day Kindergarten Teacher.
1995 Hongkong Standard 26 Aug. (Financial Review section) 17/5 (advt.) A Trading Company located in Chai Wan urgently requires: Half-Day Accounts Clerk.
C2.
half-day closing n. originally and chiefly British the fact or practice of closing business premises for a particular afternoon (selected by a local authority) each week (cf. early closing n.).As a modifier in earliest uses, frequently in the names of various committees and associations seeking to make Saturday afternoon a holiday for most workers.Half-day closing became widespread in Britain after the Shops Act 1911, but in recent years the practice has generally been abandoned.
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1853 Brit. Banner 15 June 418/4 The experience of those gentlemen who have adopted ‘The Saturday Half-day Closing System’, in Birmingham and its vicinity,..has satisfactorily proved it to be highly conducive to the comfort, improvement, and elevation of the industrious classes.
1855 Bradford Observer 3 May 1/1 The Warehousemen's Half Day Closing Committee beg to announce that..a grand gala will be held in Kirklees Park, on Saturday afternoon.
1865 Leeds Mercury 2 Dec. 9/4 I would..advocate a half-day closing of shops once a week on the least busy day.
1912 Econ. Jrnl. 22 116 In case the shopkeepers..in a sufficiently large area desire exemption from the half-day closing.., if the local authority is satisfied that a majority desire exemption, an order may be made exempting that class.
2006 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 26 Nov. 39 Under the modern cult of shopping, Britain has moved from half-day closing to Sunday trading.
half-day holiday n. a day on which half the working day or school day is given as a holiday; half a day off; cf. half-holiday n. 2.
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1809 Star 25 Oct. Orders were received here at the Commissioners' Office here, to-day, to allow the whole of the workmen of the Dock-yard a half-day holiday on Wednesday next.
1934 South Western Times (Bunbury, W. Austral.) 17 Jan. They had decided to..discuss the proposal for an extra half-day holiday on Thursday afternoon of Bunbury cup week.
2022 Telegraph (India) (Nexis) 6 Feb. The state government will declare a half-day holiday on Monday to mourn the demise of Mangeshkar and honour her.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2022).
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