Dictionary

halfdead en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English halfdede, from Old English healfdēad (“half-dead”), from Proto-Germanic *halbadaudaz (“halfdead”), equivalent to half- + dead. Cognate with West Frisian healdea (“halfdead”), Dutch halfdood (“halfdead”), German Low German halvdood (“halfdead”), German halbtot (“halfdead”), Swedish halvdöd (“halfdead”).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Halfway dead; only partially alive.
   • [...] from a vantage point of security, the lawyer is taught to ask the question from the vantage point of one lying halfdead by the side of the road. 2010, Robert A Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice:
   • But even after he was beyond the danger zone, he still felt halfdead. 1999, Patti Massman, Susan Rosser, A Matter of Betrayal:
   • Some may be halfdead physically; they need people to visit them in the hospital or in their homes. But there are many more who are halfdead in other ways. 2010, Wayne Gordon, Who Is My Neighbor?:
   • Until the day King Nax had seized him and shattered his legs—not broken them, but shattered them, eight men taking turns with a mallet—and then sent him home, halfdead, to his wife, Aliss, in the northern Dells. 2009, Kristin Cashore, Fire:

Forms

Translations (23)

ga díbheo (halfway dead; partially alive) · cmn 半死半活 (halfway dead; partially alive) · ru полумёртвый (halfway dead; partially alive) · ga bogmharbh (halfway dead; partially alive) · uk напівме́ртвий (halfway dead; partially alive) · gu અધમૂઉં (halfway dead; partially alive) · nl halfdood (halfway dead; partially alive) · cmn 半死不活 (halfway dead; partially alive) · pl półumarły (halfway dead; partially alive) · sv halvdöd (halfway dead; partially alive) · fr demi-mort (halfway dead; partially alive) · cs polomrtvý (halfway dead; partially alive) · is hálfdauður (halfway dead; partially alive) · bn অর্ধমৃত (halfway dead; partially alive) · hu félholt (halfway dead; partially alive) · hy կիսամեռ (halfway dead; partially alive) · uk півме́ртвий (halfway dead; partially alive) · ang healfdēad (halfway dead; partially alive) · ka ცოცხალმკვდარი (halfway dead; partially alive) · da halvdød (halfway dead; partially alive) · bn আধমরা (halfway dead; partially alive) · ga leathmharbh (halfway dead; partially alive) · ang samcwic (halfway dead; partially alive)