See Also: Medium(medicine)
medium(dictionary)
HAT medium(medicine)
CIRCULATING MEDIUM(law)
transport medium(medicine)
separating medium(medicine)
selective medium(medicine)
passive medium(medicine)
nutrient medium(medicine)
mounting medium(medicine)

medium (iou)



medium noun & adjective. , -iums. See also MEDIA noun2. L16.
[Latin, lit. 'middle, midst', (in medieval Latin) 'means', use as noun of medius MID adjective. Cf. French medium.]
A. noun.
A middle quality, degree, or condition; something intermediate in nature or degree. L16.
I. Milner Is there no medium between going to Court, and going a hunting?
b. Moderation. L17-L18.
Logic. The middle term of a syllogism; a ground of proof or inference. L16-E19.
a. An intervening substance through which a force acts on objects at a distance or through which impressions are conveyed to the senses, as air, water, etc. L16.
fig.: H. James The intensely habitual stillness offered a submissive medium to the sound of a distant church bell. D. Jacobson What a strange medium time is: transparent when you look back..opaque when you..look forward.
b. A pervading or enveloping substance; the substance in which an organism lives or is cultured; fig. one's environment, one's usual social setting. M17.
G. Grote You cannot thus abstract any man from the social medium by which he is surrounded. A. Hardy The shape of a fish is..all-important in a fluid medium.
A (geometric or arithmetic) mean; an average. E17-E19.
An intermediate agency, instrument, or channel; a means; spec. a channel of mass communication, as newspapers, radio, television, etc. See also MEDIA noun2. E17.
Sloan Wilson Television is developing into the greatest medium for mass education and entertainment. H. Read If we have ideas to express, the proper medium is Language.
a. A person acting as an intermediary, a mediator. rare. E19.
b. (Pl. -iums.) A person thought to be in contact with the spirits of the dead and to communicate between the living and the dead. M19.
A liquid substance with which a pigment is mixed for use in painting. Also, anything used as a raw material by an artist etc.; a style or variety of art, as determined by the materials or artistic form used. M19.
H. Belloc Four pictures were set in the walls..mosaics, they seemedbut he did not examine their medium closely. Sunday Express Water colour is his medium. Rosemary Manning Despite my occasional wish that I had been a painter..words are my medium.
b. Photography. A varnish used as a material in retouching. L19.
Theatrical. A screen fixed in front of a light source in order to throw a coloured light on a stage. M19.
Commerce. A medium-dated security. M20.
Phrases: circulating medium: see CIRCULATE. contrast medium: see CONTRAST noun. happy medium: see HAPPY adjective. mass medium: see MASS noun2 & adjective. medium of circulation, medium of exchange a thing serving as the instrument of commercial transactions, as coin, notes, etc. TYRODE's medium.
b. adjective.
Average, mean. L17-E19.
Intermediate between two or more degrees in size, character, amount, quality, etc.; spec. (a) (of paper) between royal and demy in size, usu. 600 470 mm; (b) (of wine etc.) having a flavour midway between dry and sweet; (c) (of meat) cooked between well done and rare. E18.
A. Judd He was of medium height, slightly built. T. Berger You don't want a violent boil; just..firm and medium, a little higher than a simmer.
Special collocations & comb.: medium bowler Cricket a bowler who bowls at a medium pace. medium bowling Cricket: in which the ball travels at a medium speed. medium close-up a cinematic or television shot intermediate between a medium shot and a close-up. medium-dated adjective (Commerce) (of a security) having between five and fifteen years until expiry. medium frequency an intermediate frequency (of oscillation); spec. a frequency of a medium wave, between 300 and 3000 kilohertz. medium-pacer colloq. (Cricket) = medium bowler above. medium-range adjective (of an aircraft etc.) able to travel a medium distance. medium rare (of meat) cooked between medium and rare. medium shot a cinematic or television shot intermediate between a close-up and a long shot. medium wave Telecommunications a radio wave with wavelength between a hundred metres and a kilometre.
mediumism noun the practices or profession of a spiritualistic medium M19.
mediu'mistic adjective of, pertaining to, or having the characteristics of a spiritualistic medium M19.
mediumly adverb moderately, to a medium or average extent E20.
mediumship noun (a) the state or condition of being or acting as a spiritualistic medium; (b) intervening agency, intermediation: M19.