Brewer's: Half-done

Half-done, as Elgin was burnt. In the wars between James II. of Scotland and the Douglases in 1452, the Earl of Huntly burnt one-half of the town of Elgin, being the side which belonged to the Douglases, but left the other side standing because it belonged to his own family. (SirWalterScott: Tales of a Grandfather, xxi.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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