- the period indicating completion of half the time allowed for an activity, as for a football or basketball game or an examination.
- Sports. the intermission or rest period between the two halves of a football, basketball, or other game, during which spectators are often entertained by baton twirling, marching bands, or the like.
- pertaining to or taking place during a halftime: The football fans were treated to a halftime exhibition by the marching band.
Origin of halftime
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for half-time
For the half-time show, a cheerleader and her doppelgängers perform some hypnotic, pom-pom routines (see 1:11).Austin Mahone, Grouplove & More Best Music Videos of the Week (VIDEO)
June 15, 2013
When I had finished, I was as hot and dirty as if it were half-time at a football match.The Stark Munro Letters
J. Stark Munro
The complete movement being in strict time and "4-and" for half-time.The Art of Stage Dancing
In this way only twenty-two points were scored after half-time.The White Feather
P. G. Wodehouse
We note the evil in its worst form under the “half-time” system.
There are certain other advantages which the half-time system can claim.
- a rest period between the two halves of a game
- (as modifier)the half-time score
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for half-time
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper