half = the largest part of something

Question

Hi,According to my Longman, half may mean the largest part of something (not 50% exactly!) in some context.Examples:(1) She seems to be asleep half the time(2) Selecting accessories for a computer is half the fun.How can an English learner tell whether half stands for 1/2 exactly or the largest part of an amount, etc.?Can I consider half the time and half the fun as set expressions where half means the largest part of something?Are there some other set expressions and idioms where half = the most part of smth??mus-te

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Yes, that it is a set expression. And since it is so, 'half' does not mean 'the larger part' at all: it is idiomatic.

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Mister Micawber 'half' does not mean 'the larger part' at all: it is idiomatic.

Well, here is how my Longman displays the entry half (1) [predeterminer, pronoun, adjective]
Note the lines highlighted red

/hä:f $ hæf/ [only before noun]
1 50% exactly or about 50% (½) of an amount, time, distance, number etc
half of
Over half of the children live in one-parent families.
Only half the guests had arrived by seven o'clock.
If you look at our members, at least half are women.
half a mile/pound/hour etc
half a pound of butter
It's about half a mile down the road.
She drank half a bottle of wine.
half a million dollars
a half hour/mile etc
You can't just waltz in a half hour late.
It's about a half mile down the road.
a half day excursion to the island
He demanded a half share of the money.
half the price/size/length etc
It's only half the size of a normal violin.
They offered to pay half the cost of repairs.

2 most of (sic!) the largest part of something

half of
We missed half of what he said because someone was talking.
She seems to be asleep half the time.
Getting covered in mud is half the fun.

So its not my overactive imagination... it's just how the dictionary compilers present things :-)

CalifJim · Answer

I think it's a matter of the listener's judgment whether he accepts 'half' as a literal half or whether he accepts 'half' only as a metaphoric half, i.e., definition 1 or definition 2 above. But the same is true of any numeric amounts.

That man must be 1000 years old!
When I call her, her line is busy 99% of the time.
I've been asked to vote for Mr. Clark 100 times today.

CJ

Rover_KE · Answer

MUSCOVITE 2 most of (sic!) the largest part of something.

That's only Longman's opinion.

Many of these dictionaries confirm that half can mean one of two approximately equal parts of something.

Rover

Mister Micawber · Answer

Now I'm a little curious.

We missed half of what he said because someone was talking.
She seems to be asleep half the time.
Getting covered in mud is half the fun.

I use this phrase very often, but I never think of the meaning as 'most' at all: I mean 'about 50%'. Do other native speakers mean 'most' when they say that? When I mean 'most', I say 'most': 'She's asleep most of the time'.

CalifJim · Answer

Mister MicawberI never think of the meaning as 'most' at all

I don't either. I think it's closer to "a great deal of", but less than half. For this reason it strikes me as an indicator of speaker exaggeration.

We missed half of what he said ...~ We missed more than we should have had to miss because some very annoying person was preventing us from hearing him. (I don't think "we" literally missed anything even approaching a literal half of what "he" said.)

She seems to be asleep half the time. ~ She is a great deal more inattentive than I think is normal. There must be something wrong with her. (I don't think she seems to be asleep anywhere near a literal half the time.)

Getting covered in mud is half the fun. ~ Getting covered in mud is certainly one of the side effects, but that in itself can be much of the fun. (I don't think it's even as much as literally half the fun.)

CJ

half = the largest part of something

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