take one's half out of the middle
take one's half out of the middle verb: to take the portion of something to which one is entitled, but in such a way that it shortchanges others.
Verb
take one's half out of the middle (third-person singular simple present takes one's half out of the middle, present participle taking one's half out of the middle, simple past took one's half out of the middle, past participle taken one's half out of the middle)
- To take the portion of something to which one is entitled, but in such a way that it shortchanges others.
- A boy once complained of his brother for taking half of the bed. "And why not?" said his mother, "he is entitled to half, aint^([sic]) he?"—"Yes, ma'am," said the boy; "but how should you like to have him take out all the soft for his half? He will have his half out of the middle, and I have to...1897, Encyclopaedia of Wit and Wisdom, David McKay, page 154
- Luke E. was up to about 45 mph when he entered the curve... that's when this knubbrain in a big Detroit job came barreling from the other way, hacking his half out of the middle. Luke E. whipped the wheel and headed for the shoulder.1965 October, “Ground Safety”, in TAC Action
Forms of take one's half out of the middle
| third-person singular present | takes one's half out of the middle |
|---|---|
| present participle | taking one's half out of the middle |
| past | took one's half out of the middle |
| past participle | taken one's half out of the middle |
Origin of take one's half out of the middle
Referring to a scenario where one is entitled to half of something (e.g. half a cheese-wheel, half a cake, half a bed, or half of the width of a road for driving) but one takes one's half from the middle instead of one side, leaving the other person with a less desirable half (of the cheese-wheel or cake) consisting of crust or rind, or an unusable "half" (of the bed or road) made up of two separate pieces on either side.
Questions about take one's half out of the middle
- What does take one's half out of the middle mean?
- Take one's half out of the middle means to take the portion of something to which one is entitled, but in such a way that it shortchanges others.
- What part of speech is take one's half out of the middle?
- Take one's half out of the middle is a verb.
- What is the past tense of take one's half out of the middle?
- The past tense of take one's half out of the middle is took one's half out of the middle.
Words near take one's half out of the middle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: take one's half out of the middle (page history and authors). 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)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-take one's half out of the middle.wav.
Cite this entry: “take one's half out of the middle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_one%27s_half_out_of_the_middle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.