have half a mind to (do something)

To have an inclination or intention to do something, especially as a result of some unpleasant experience. My flight home was so terrible, I have half a mind to write a letter to the airline company and complain. She had half a mind to call the police on the people blasting music at 3 AM.

If you say that you have half a mind to do something, you are thinking about doing it or threatening to do it, although you probably will not do it. I was wet and weary and had half a mind to curl up on the hillside and wait for the rescue helicopter. I have half a mind to file a lawsuit against her. Note: You can also say that someone is of half a mind to do something. I was of half a mind to leave, but it was late so I stayed.

To be strongly inclined toward; to be somewhat inclined toward. The first term began life back in the fifteenth century as having a great mind to do something, as in “I have a great mynd to be a lecherous man” (John Bale, Kyng Johan, ca. 1550). In 1674 Lord Clarendon wrote in History of the Rebellion, “The duke of Lorrayne had a very good mind to get a footing in Ireland.” The second phrase, which implies indecision—half of one’s mind inclines one way and the other half the other way—was known by 1700 or so and appeared more and more often in the nineteenth century. “She had half a mind to reply,” wrote Edward Bulwer-Lytton (My Novel, 1853).