half-bath

plural half-baths · alternative half bath

1. USA short bath of the feet, limbs, and abdomen that only reaches up to the chest where the upper half of the body is typically kept dry with minimal splashing (especially with water temperature not above 95°F nor below 75°F, and usually prescribed for the sick or unwell as a form of hydrotherapy)
2. PhilippinesA short bath where the head, especially the hair, is kept dry (especially a shower bath at night before sleep)

   1 more example

   […] suction force which the thoracic cavity exerts upon the venous blood, the half bath is one of choice and found preference in patient with less robust natural constitution and particularly in those with cardiac weakness and in elderly persons suffering from sclerosis of the coronary arteries. The first baths are […]

   1937, Bureau of Health, Commonwealth of the Philippines, Monthly Bulletin of the Philippine Health Service, volumes 17-18, Bureau of Printing, page 595