On a basis of equal division of proceeds.
1710. It is usual … for the owners to let their Lands to halfs to their Tenants.—Prideaux, ‘Origin of Tithes,’ p. 104. (N.E.D.)
1789. To be let, on the halves, a good farm.—Mass. Spy, March 19.
1833. “[He] lives by swappin’ watches and so-forths, six days o’ the week, an’ preachin’ at the halves, or maybe for his board an’ hoss-keep a’ sabba-days.” “Preaching at the halves—how’s that?” said the southerner. “Why, don’t you know? in partnership for what’s taken up arter the sarmon’s over; sometimes they go snacks, an’ sometimes they sell out aforehand for so much over an’ above thir reglar wages.” “How?—snacks—hey? I don’t understand you—I never heard of this before.” “I want to know!” exclaimed the other down-easter. “Well you do know,” replied the southerner, in perfect good faith, mistaking the northern exclamation for a formal interrogatory.—John Neal, ‘The Down-Easters,’ i. 45.
1853.
| I’ve tended bar, worked farms to halves, been twice to the South seas, | |
| Sold clocks (I mentioned that before), done something in herb teas. | |
‘Our Own,’ Putnam’s Mag., i. 533 (May). |
1866. To the halves still survives among us, though apparently obsolete in England. It means to let or to hire a piece of land, receiving half the profit in money or in kind (partibus locare).—Lowell, Introd., ‘Biglow Papers.’ (N.E.D.)
