From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhalf a minute/moment/second etchalf a minute/moment/second etcspokenSHORT TIME a very short time Hold on, this will only take half a second. → half
Examples from the Corpus
half a minute/moment/second etc• Add bean sprouts and cook another half minute.• I pulled to the curb for half a minute.• Poole and Bowman studied the screen in silence for half a minute.• The fireball that came with the flash lasted for half a second and enveloped the whole stumbling figure.• The fireball is visible for about half a minute before the object exits from the atmosphere with its original speed virtually undiminished.• After one and a half minutes the aircraft began to overshoot, correctly making an initial turn to the west.• Report repeated two and a half second ticking sounds from plane. 