subs. (colloquial).—Equal quantities of ale and porter; Cf., FOUR-HALF and DRINKS.

1

  1824.  REYNOLDS, (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, 41. Over my gentler HALF-AND-HALF.

2

  1835.  DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, p. 111. We were never tired of wondering ow the hackney-coachmen on the opposite stand could … drink pots of HALF-AND-HALF so near the last drop.

3

  1854.  MARTIN and AYTOUN, Bon Gaultier Ballads, ‘My Wife’s Cousin.’

        HALF-AND-HALF goes down before him,
  Gurgling from the pewter pot;
And he moves a counter motion
  For a glass of something hot.

4

  1861.  ALBERT SMITH, The London Medical Student, p. 51. HALF-AND-HALF … is … ale and porter, the proportion of the porter increasing in an inverse ratio to the respectability of the public-house you get it from.

5

  1872.  Fun, July. ‘The Right Tap.’ If the lever, meaning a plumper, were labelled ‘stout,’ and those recording a split vote HALF AND HALF, the illusion would be complete.

6

  Adj. (common).—Half-drunk; HALF-ON (q.v.). For synonyms, see DRINKS and SCREWED.

7

  1848.  DUNCOMBE, Sinks of London Laid Open. HALF AND HALF, half seas over, tipsy.

8

  HALF-AND-HALF-COVES (or MEN, BOYS, etc.), subs. (old).—Cheap or linsey-woolsey dandies; half-BUCKS (q.v.) and half-TIGERS (q.v.).

9

  1821.  W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, i., 7. Jerry. The HALF-AND-HALF COVES are somewhat different from the swaddies, and gay tyke boys, at the dog pit—Eh, Tom?

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