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Webster 1913 Edition

Middle

Mid′dle

(mĭd′d’l)
,
Adj.
[OE.
middel
, AS.
middel
; akin to D.
middel
, OHG.
muttil
, G.
mittel
. √271. See
Mid
,
Adj.
]
1.
Equally distant from the extreme either of a number of things or of one thing; mean; medial;
as, the
middle
house in a row; a
middle
rank or station in life; flowers of
middle
summer; men of
middle
age.
2.
Intermediate; intervening.
Will, seeking good, finds many
middle
ends.
Sir J. Davies.
☞ Middle is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, middle-sized, middle-witted.
Middle Ages
,
the period of time intervening between the decline of the Roman Empire and the revival of letters.
Hallam
regards it as beginning with the sixth and ending with the fifteenth century.
–
Middle class
,
in England, people who have an intermediate position between the aristocracy and the artisan class. It includes professional men, bankers, merchants, and small landed proprietors

The
middle-class
electorate of Great Britain.
M. Arnold.
–
Middle distance
.
(Paint.)
See
Middle-ground
.
–
Middle English
.
See
English
,
Noun.
, 2.
–
Middle Kingdom
,
China.
–
Middle oil
(Chem.)
,
that part of the distillate obtained from coal tar which passes over between 170° and 230° Centigrade; – distinguished from the
light oil
, and the
heavy oil
or
dead oil
.
–
Middle passage
,
in the slave trade, that part of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the West Indies.
–
Middle post
.
(Arch.)
Same as
King-post
.
–
Middle States
,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; which, at the time of the formation of the Union, occupied a middle position between the Eastern States (or New England) and the Southern States.
[U.S.]
–
Middle term
(Logic)
,
that term of a syllogism with which the two extremes are separately compared, and by means of which they are brought together in the conclusion.
Brande.
–
Middle tint
(Paint.)
,
a subdued or neutral tint.
Fairholt.
–
Middle voice
.
(Gram.)
See under
Voice
.
–
Middle watch
,
the period from midnight to four
a. m.
;
also,
the men on watch during that time.
Ham. Nav. Encyc.
–
Middle weight
,
a pugilist, boxer, or wrestler classed as of medium weight, i. e., over 140 and not over 160 lbs., in distinction from those classed as
light weights
,
heavy weights
, etc.

Mid′dle

,
Noun.
[AS.
middel
. See
Middle
,
Adj.
]
The point or part equally distant from the extremities or exterior limits, as of a line, a surface, or a solid; an intervening point or part in space, time, or order of series; the midst; central portion
;
specif.,
the waist.
Chaucer.
“The middle of the land.”
Judg. ix. 37.
In this, as in most questions of state, there is a
middle
.
Burke.
Syn. – See
Midst
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Middle

MIDDLE

,
Adj.
mid'l. [L. medius.]
1.
Equally distant from the extremes; as the middle point of a line or circle; the middle station of life. The middle path or course is most safe.
2.
Intermediate; intervening.
Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends.
Middle ages, the ages or period of time about equally distant from the decline of the Roman empire and the revival of letters in Europe, or from the eighth to the fifteenth century of the christian era.

Definition 2024

middle

middle

English

Alternative forms

  • myddle (obsolete)

Noun

middle ‎(plural middles)

  1. A centre, midpoint.
    The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.‎
  2. The part between the beginning and the end.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
    I woke up in the middle of the night.‎
    In the middle of the marathon, David collapsed from fatigue.‎
  3. (cricket) The middle stump.
  4. The central part of a human body.
  5. (grammar) The middle voice.

Synonyms

Translations

central part of human body

Adjective

middle ‎(not comparable)

  1. Located in the middle; in between.
    the middle point
    middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages
  2. Central.
  3. (grammar) Pertaining to the middle voice.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:intermediate

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: soldiers · speech · fast · #879: middle · effort · race · ladies

Etymology

From Middle English middel, from Old English middel, middle ‎(“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midlą, *midilą, *medalą ‎(“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō ‎(“middle, midst”) (compare *midjaz ‎(“mid, middle”, adjective)), from Proto-Indo-European *medhy- ‎(“middle, midst”), compare *médʰyos ‎(“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with West Frisian middel, Dutch middel, German mittel ‎(“middle”, adjective), German Mittel ‎(“middle, means”, noun), Danish middel ‎(“means, agent, medicine”). Related also to Swedish medel ‎(“means, medium”), Icelandic meðal ‎(“means, medicine”). See also mid.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɪdəl/
  • Rhymes: -ɪdəl

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