take one's half out of the middle

== English == === Etymology === Referring to a scenario where one is entitled to half of something (e.g. half a cheese-wheel, half a cake, half a bed, or half of the width of a road for driving) but one takes one's half from the middle instead of one side, leaving the other person with a less desirable half (of the cheese-wheel or cake) consisting of crust or rind, or an unusable "half" (of the bed or road) made up of two separate pieces on either side. === Pronunciation === === Verb === take one's half out of the middle (third-person singular simple present takes one's half out of the middle, present participle taking one's half out of the middle, simple past took one's half out of the middle, past participle taken one's half out of the middle) To take the portion of something to which one is entitled, but in such a way that it shortchanges others.