behalf
pronunciation
How to pronounce behalf in British English:
UK [bɪˈhɑːf]
How to pronounce behalf in American English:
US [bɪˈhæf]
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- Noun:
- as the agent of or on someone's part (usually expressed as "on behalf of" rather than "in behalf of")
- for someone's benefit (usually expressed as `in behalf' rather than `on behalf' and usually with a possessive)
Word Origin
- behalf
- behalf: [14] Behalf was compounded from the prefix be- ‘by’ and the noun half, in the sense ‘side’. The latter had been used in such phrases as on my half, that is, ‘on my side, for my part’, since late Old English times, and the new compound began to replace it in the 14th century. (That particular use of half had died out by the end of the 16th century.) The modern sense of ‘representing or in the interests of someone’ was present from the beginning.=> half
- behalf (n.)
- c. 1300, behalve (with dative suffix), from Old English (him) be healfe "by (his) side," and on (his) healfe "on (his) side," from healfe "side" (see half).
Example
- 1. God often calls surrendered people to do battle on his behalf .
- 2. An attempt to create a national commission on its behalf failed in congress .
- 3. Who are the participants in the market and on whose behalf are they operating ?
- 4. The icc prosecutors rely on intermediaries to act on their behalf in remote parts of africa .
- 5. Brown has shown his support for blair by asking cunliffe and darroch to lobby on his behalf .