Half-pound Definition & Meaning

American

Etymology

Examples

half-pound American [haf-pound, hahf-] / ˈhæfˈpaʊnd, ˈhɑf- /

noun

1. a unit of weight equal to 8 ounces avoirdupois (0.227 kilogram) or 6 ounces troy or apothecaries' weight (0.187 kilogram).

Etymology

Origin of half-pound

First recorded in 1545–55

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.

He makes half-pound patties and seasons them well; into each he presses a divot about a ½ inch deep.

From The Wall Street Journal

Dangling at the ends of the lines were a handful of Dotonbori’s best-kept serpentine secret: yellow-flank eels, about two feet long and a half-pound heavy.

From National Geographic

“We aim for half-pound bulbs.”

From Seattle Times

By the early 19th century in Vienna, a cup of coffee cost roughly the same as a half-pound cut of beef.

From National Geographic

There’s a blindfolded tasting, a test to cut four half-pound pieces of cheese without pre-weighing, an oral test and a multiple choice quiz — in addition to the gantlet Rollins and Johnson re-created in Burien, which is weighted more heavily in scoring than the other tests.

From Seattle Times

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.