halfback
Appearance
See also: half-back
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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"
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]halfback (plural halfbacks)
- (field sports) Any of various positions on the field of play between the forwards and the fullbacks.
- (field sports) A player who occupies one of these positions.
- (American football) 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.
- (Canadian football) A defensive back whose primary jobs are to cover the slotback on passing plays and prevent running plays from going to the outside.
- (field hockey) A player in the halfback position, with both offensive and defensive roles.
- (Australian rules football) One of three players (the centre halfback and two halfback flankers) on the line between the centre line and the fullback line.
- (rugby) 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.
- 2012 September 11, Robert Strauss, “Heading South, but Stopping Short of Florida”, in The New York Times[1], archived from the original on 13 September 2012:
- 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.
- 2016 August 11, Rebecca Tippett, “NC in Focus: Examining “halfback” trends”, in Carolina Demography[2]:
- One of my favorite stories of North Carolina’s demographic growth and change is the “halfback.”
- 2019 March 4, Michael Patrick Shiels, “Lansing to low country – half-back snowbirds settle in SC”, in Lansing State Journal[3]:
- “‘Halfbacks’ are snowbirds from Michigan who have tried wintering in Florida but decided to move…half way back.
Derived terms
[edit]Verb
[edit]halfback (third-person singular simple present halfbacks, present participle halfbacking, simple past and past participle halfbacked)
- To play in the position of halfback.