See Also: In the middle(money)
Middle ear(medicine)
Middle(medicine)
middle name(dictionary)
middle(1)(dictionary)
middle(2)(dictionary)
middle ear(dictionary)
middle age(dictionary)
middle C(dictionary)
middle age(dictionary)

middle(1) (iou)



middle attrib. adjective & noun.
[Old English middel = Old Frisian middel, Old Saxon middil- (Dutch middel), Old High German mittil (German mittel), from West Germanic, from Germanic base of MID adjective: see -LE1.]
A. adjective.
Designating that member of a group or series or that part of a whole situated so as to have the same number of members or parts on each side; equidistant from the ends or boundaries of a thing; situated at the centre. OE.
Goldsmith He was at that middle time of life which is happily tempered with the warmth of youth. W. M. Craig In the same way you will get the middle line of the mouth. J. Tyndall The middle portion of the glacier. Punch My middle sister, Emily.
b. Average, mean. L17-L18.
= MID adjective 1. Now rare. ME.
J. Macculloch The two months of middle summer.
Of size, rank, quality, or (now rarely) position in space or time: intermediate; medium. Of a course of action, an opinion, etc.: mediating. Of a colour: = MID adjective 3b. LME.
N. Rowe The middle Space, a Valley low depress'd. Burke An Administration, that having no scheme of their own, took a middle line. T. D. Acland The want of better education, accessible to the middle ranks on easy terms. E. Pace The immaturity that plagued middle-level intelligence officials. D. Francis A man..of middle height..and middling grey hair.
b. Middle-sized (now rare); (of wool) having medium-length staple. LME.
c. Of or pertaining to the middle classes. L18.
Grammar. Of or designating (the voice of) a verb (esp. in Greek) which expresses reflexive or reciprocal action. M18.
Designating a language at an intermediate stage in its history, between the old and modern forms. M19.
Geology. Designating a subdivision of a formation or period intermediate between two others (upper and lower). M19.
Special collocations & comb.: Middle Academy: see ACADEMY 2. Middle America (a) the region comprising Central America, Mexico, and the Antilles; (b) the middle class in the US, esp. as a conservative political force. Middle American adjective & noun (a native or inhabitant) of Middle America. Middle Atlantic States the States of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Middle Britain the middle class in Britain, esp. as a conservative political force. middlebrow noun & adjective (a person) claiming to be or regarded as only moderately intellectual or cultured. middle C Music the C near the middle of the piano keyboard, the note between the treble and bass staves, at about 260 hertz frequency. middle common-room a common-room in a university college for the use of graduate students who are not fellows; graduate students collectively. middle course a compromise between two extremes (steer a middle course: see STEER verb1). middle deck a ship's deck between the upper deck and the lower deck. middle distance (a) the part of a (painted or actual) landscape between the foreground and the background; (b) a race distance intermediate between that of a sprint and a long-distance race, now usu. 400, 800, or 1500 metres and their imperial equivalents (880 yards etc.). middle distillate a petroleum fraction that distils at intermediate temperatures (about 180 to 340 degrees C), from which is obtained paraffin, diesel oil, and heating oil. middle ear: see EAR noun1. middle earth (a) arch. the earth, as situated between heaven and hell or as supposedly occupying the centre of the universe; (b) the real world as distinct from fairyland; (c) the middle of the earth. Middle East the area around the eastern Mediterranean, esp. those countries from Egypt to Iran inclusive. Middle Eastern adjective of, pertaining to, situated in, or occurring in the Middle East. middle eight colloq. the eight bars in the middle of a conventionally structured popular tune, often of a different character from the other parts of the tune. Middle England (a) central England; (b) the middle class in England, esp. as a conservative political force. Middle English: see ENGLISH adjective & noun. Middle-European adjective of, pertaining to, or characteristic of central Europe or its people. middle finger: between the index finger and the third finger. middle game the central phase of a chess game when strategies are developed. middle genus Logic a genus which is itself a species of a higher genus. middle ground (a) Nautical a shallow place, as a bank or bar, esp. as a navigational obstruction; (b) = middle distance (a) above; (c) an area of moderation or compromise. middle guard (a) Cricket the position occupied by a batsman defending the middle stump with the bat; (b) Amer. Football a defensive lineman who plays between the defensive tackles. middle income an average income. Middle Kingdom (a) Hist. China, spec. its eighteen inner provinces; (b) the eleventh and twelfth Dynasties, which ruled Egypt from the 22nd to the 18th cents. BC. middle lamella Botany the thin layer between two adjacent plant cell walls. middle leg slang the penis. middle-length adjective of medium length. middle life (a) the middle of a person's life, middle age; (b) middle-class life. middle linebacker Amer. Football: who plays behind the middle of the defensive line. middle management the middle level of management in a business or company, esp. comprising departmental managers. middle manager a manager at the level of middle management. middle name (a) a name between a person's first name and surname; (b) fig. the outstanding characteristic of a person. middle passage Hist. the middle part of a slave's transportation from Africa to America, the sea passage. middle period the middle phase of a culture, artist's work, etc. middle piece the part of a horse's body between the forelegs and the hind legs. Middle Pointed Architecture (now Hist.) decorated Gothic. middle price Stock Exchange the average of the bid and offer prices of a particular stock. middle rail the rail of a door level with the hand, on which the lock is usually fixed. middle-rank adjective of intermediate status or value. middle-rate adjective mediocre. middle rib a cut of beef consisting of the ribs between the fore ribs and the chuck ribs. middle-road adjective = middle-of-the-road below. middle school (a) a secondary school for children between the ages of 9 and 13; (b) the middle (esp. third and fourth) forms in a secondary school. middle-sized adjective of medium size. middle spotted woodpecker: see SPOTTED woodpecker. Middle States = Middle Atlantic States above. middlestead dial. the central part of a barn where threshing formerly took place. Middle Temple: see TEMPLE noun1 6. middle term: see TERM noun. middle-tone = halftone (c) s.v. HALF-. middle wall a partition wall. middle watch the watch from midnight to 4 a.m.; the members of a ship's crew on deck duty during this. middleware Computing software that occupies a position in a hierarchy between the operating system and the applications, and whose task is to ensure that software from a variety of sources will work together correctly. middle-water adjective designating or pertaining to fishing carried out at a medium distance from land. middle way (a) = middle course above; (b) the eightfold path of Buddhism between indulgence and asceticism. Middle West = Midwest s.v. MID adjective. Middle Western adjective = Midwestern s.v. MID adjective. Middle White (an animal of) a medium-sized white (orig. Yorkshire) breed of pig with prick ears. middle wicket = midwicket s.v. MID adjective. middle world arch. = middle earth (a) above. middle years the years in the middle of a person's life, middle age.
b. noun.
The middle point, part, or position. (Foll. by of.) OE.
R. K. Narayan I noticed her sitting erect in the middle of the road. C. Angier Mr Peterman demanded to know why she had walked out in the middle of her act. T. Parks There was just one..polished-wood table in the middle and then cupboards about the walls. L. Cody It could have been the middle of the night. Z. Tomin Make sure this story has a happy beginning, middle and end.
b. A strip of unplanted ground between two rows of a planted crop. Usu. in pl. US. E19.
The position of being among or surrounded by a group of people or within a town etc. Chiefly in in the middle of, in the midst of. OE-M18.
H. Brooke [He] is come to rob me in broad day, and in the middle of my own people.
a. A person's waist. OE.
G. Borrow He has got it buckled round his middle beneath his pantaloons.
b. The part of a side of bacon between the fore-end and the gammon cuts. L19.
A mean; a point of moderation or compromise. Now rare. ME.
Defoe To keep the safe middle between these extremes.
An intermediate cause or agency. rare. ME-L17.
Nautical. = middle ground (a) above. E18.
Grammar. The middle voice of a verb; a middle verb. M18.
Cricket. = middle guard (a) above. M19.
A brief essay of a literary kind esp. in a weekly journal, usu. placed between the leading articles and the reviews. M19.
A middle-class person. colloq. M20.
Phrases & comb.: in the middle slang in a difficult or dangerous position, in trouble. in the middle of (a) see sense B.2 above; (b) in the process of doing. knock into the middle of next week: see KNOCK verb. law of excluded middle, law of excluded third: see EXCLUDE 5. middle-of-the-road adjective (of a person, course of action, music, etc.) avoiding extremes, unadventurous. pig in the middle: see PIG noun1. piggy in the middle: see PIGGY noun. play both ends against the middle: see PLAY verb. principle of excluded middle, principle of excluded third: see EXCLUDE 5. turn sides to middle: see SIDE noun. UNDISTRIBUTED middle.
middleness noun (rare) the fact or condition of being of middle rank or quality E20.