halfback
/ˈhæfˌbæk/
halfback noun: any of various positions on the field of play between the forwards and the fullbacks.
Noun
halfback (plural halfbacks)
- Any of various positions on the field of play between the forwards and the fullbacks.
- An offensive back whose primary jobs are to carry the ball on running plays and to serve as a receiver or blocker on passing plays.
- A defensive back whose primary jobs are to cover the slotback on passing plays and prevent running plays from going to the outside.
- A player in the halfback position, with both offensive and defensive roles.
- One of three players (the centre halfback and two halfback flankers) on the line between the centre line and the fullback line.
- The player who feeds the ball into the scrum, and receives the ball as it emerges from the back of the scrum.
- A person from the northern United States who moves to Florida, but then due to the heat or other issues, moves again to a more temperate climate, primarily the Carolinas.
- Four years ago, Diane got a small inheritance and they became what Paul Klein calls “halfbacks” — people who moved to Florida from the North and have progressed partly back.2012 September 11, Robert Strauss, “Heading South, but Stopping Short of Florida”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 13 Sep 2012
- One of my favorite stories of North Carolina’s demographic growth and change is the “halfback.”2016 August 11, Rebecca Tippett, “NC in Focus: Examining “halfback” trends”, in Carolina Demography
Verb
halfback (third-person singular simple present halfbacks, present participle halfbacking, simple past and past participle halfbacked)
- To play in the position of halfback.
halfback meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
halfback in Hindi
- हाफबैक
halfback in Tamil
- இடைநிலை ஆட்டக்கார்
halfback in Marathi
- अर्धबॅक
halfback in Bengali
- হাফব্যাক
More languagesFewer languages
- halfback in Malayalam
- ഹാഫ്ബാക്ക്
- halfback in Nepali
- हाफब्याक
Forms of halfback
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | halfbacks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | halfbacks |
| present participle | halfbacking |
| past participle | halfbacked |
| past | halfbacked |
Origin of halfback
From half + back, in reference to position on the field of play; compare fullback. In the sense of someone who moves to Florida and then to a more temperate climate, from moving "half way back"
Words formed from halfback
Questions about halfback
- What does halfback mean?
- Halfback means any of various positions on the field of play between the forwards and the fullbacks.
- What is halfback in Hindi?
- Halfback in Hindi is हाफबैक. See Halfback meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is halfback?
- Halfback can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce halfback?
- Halfback is pronounced /ˈhæfˌbæk/ (US).
- What is the plural of halfback?
- The plural of halfback is halfbacks.
Words near halfback in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: halfback (page history and authors); halfback (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); halfback (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); halfback (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); halfback (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); halfback (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); halfback (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-halfback.wav.
Cite this entry: “halfback.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/halfback. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.