Better half
a person’s wife.
a person’s husband.
Contemporary Examples
Why Salt Lake’s Mayor Lost Faith in Mitt McKay Coppins August 18, 2011
The Moms of Monster Jam Drive Trucks, Buck Macho Culture Eliza Krigman November 21, 2014
New Orleans Shooting: I Saw the Mother’s Day Parade Gunman Jarratt Pytell May 12, 2013
Historical Examples
Mr. Punch in Wig and Gown Various
An Explorer’s Adventures in Tibet A. Henry Savage Landor
Toaster’s Handbook Peggy Edmund and Harold W. Williams, compilers
Roundabout Papers William Makepeace Thackeray
Jack Harkaway and His Son’s Escape From the Brigand’s of Greece Bracebridge Hemyng
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. III. (of XXI.) Thomas Carlyle
The Lock And Key Library Various
noun
(jocular) one’s spouse
Also, better part . The larger amount or majority of something, as in I won’t be long; the better half of this job is complete , or I have spent the better part of my life in this city . Sir Philip Sidney used the first term in Arcadia (1580): “I … shall think the better half of it already achieved.” The variant appears in a well-known proverb, discretion is the better part of valor
Also, my better half. One’s (my) spouse, as in I’m not sure if we can go; I’ll have to check with my better half. Originally this expression meant “a close friend or lover,” and by the 16th century it referred to either a wife or lover. Sidney used it in this way, again in Arcadia: “My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee.” Today it tends to be used lightly for either husband or wife. “Late 1500s”
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- Better luck next time
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see: better half , def. 1.