From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfirst halfˌfirst ˈhalf noun [countable] DSthe first of two equal periods of time that a sports match is divided into
Examples from the Corpus
first half• After a resolute first half, Aberdeen simply dissolved in the second.• Increased demand for its road, rail and sea container fleets during the first half helped boost the latest figures.• Many if not most of them had doubled in size during the first half of the nineteenth century.• Virginia Tech shot 39 percent in the first half against us Saturday, then shot 69 percent in the second half.• The team played well in the first half.• The first half of the mile-long walk across the bridge is slightly uphill.• The first half of this quotation is well known to lawyers and is often quoted.From Longman Business Dictionaryfirst-halfˈfirst-half adjective [only before a noun]ACCOUNTINGFINANCE first-half profits, losses, sales etc are ones made in the first six months of the financial yearShares in the UK electronics group increased in price after they reported a 41% increase in first-half pretax profit.First-half sales grew 11% to $1,025 billion. —first half noun [singular]Sales were down 5.3% in the first half. → see also first-quarter 