not half
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Not half bad means "not at all bad"; pretty good, indeed; better than I had expected; but Not half! has a more ironical meaning, and means something like "Rather! 1 should think so!
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “not half” mean?
Not half bad means "not at all bad"; pretty good, indeed; better than I had expected; but Not half! has a more ironical meaning, and means something like "Rather! 1 should think so!
Is “not half” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.