[syn: center(a), halfway, middle(a), midway]
3. of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages;
- Example: "Middle English is the English language from about 1100 to 1500"
- Example: "Middle Gaelic"
4. between an earlier and a later period of time;
- Example: "in the middle years"
- Example: "in his middle thirties"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Middle \Mid"dle\, n. [AS. middel. See Middle, a.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
In this, as in most questions of state, there is a
middle. --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: See Midst.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Middle \Mid"dle\ (m[i^]d"d'l), a. [OE. middel, AS. middel; akin
to D. middel, OHG. muttil, G. mittel. [root]271. See Mid,
a.]
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
2. Intermediate; intervening.
[1913 Webster]
Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends. --Sir J.
Davies.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Middle is sometimes used in the formation of
self-explaining compounds; as, middle-sized,
middle-witted.
[1913 Webster]
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
[1913 Webster]
The middle-class electorate of Great Britain. --M.
Arnold.
[1913 Webster]
Middle distance. (Paint.) See Middle-ground.
Middle English. See English, n., 2.
Middle Kingdom, China.
Middle oil (Chem.), that part of the distillate obtained
from coal tar which passes over between 170[deg] and
230[deg] 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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
middle
adj 1: being neither at the beginning nor at the end in a
series; "adolescence is an awkward in-between age"; "in a
mediate position"; "the middle point on a line" [syn:
in-between, mediate, middle]
2: equally distant from the extremes [syn: center(a),
halfway, middle(a), midway]
3: of a stage in the development of a language or literature
between earlier and later stages; "Middle English is the
English language from about 1100 to 1500"; "Middle Gaelic"
[ant: early, late]
4: between an earlier and a later period of time; "in the middle
years"; "in his middle thirties" [ant: early, late]
n 1: an area that is approximately central within some larger
region; "it is in the center of town"; "they ran forward
into the heart of the struggle"; "they were in the eye of
the storm" [syn: center, centre, middle, heart,
eye]
2: an intermediate part or section; "A whole is that which has
beginning, middle, and end"- Aristotle [ant: beginning,
end]
3: the middle area of the human torso (usually in front); "young
American women believe that a bare midriff is fashionable"
[syn: middle, midriff, midsection]
4: time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period;
"the middle of the war"; "rain during the middle of April"
[ant: beginning, commencement, end, ending, first,
get-go, kickoff, offset, outset, showtime, start,
starting time]
v 1: put in the middle
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
118 Moby Thesaurus words for "middle":
active, active voice, amidships, arbitrational, arbitrative,
average, axial, axis, balance, bisect, center, center of action,
center of gravity, center on, center round, centermost, central,
centralize, centralized, centric, centroid, centroidal,
centrosymmetric, centrum, coming between, concentrated, core,
dead center, double, epicenter, equatorial, equidistant, fold,
generality, geocentric, going between, golden mean, halfway,
happy medium, heart, hub, intercessional, intercessory,
intercurrent, interior, interjacent, interlocutory, intermedial,
intermediary, intermediate, intermediatory, intervenient,
intervening, interventional, juste-milieu, kernel, key, marrow,
mean, medial, median, mediating, mediative, mediatorial, mediatory,
medio-passive, mediocre, mediocrity, mediterranean, medium,
medulla, mesial, mesne, metacenter, mezzo, mid, middle course,
middle ground, middle point, middle position, middle state,
middle voice, middle-of-the-road, middlemost, middling, midland,
midmost, midpoint, midriff, midships, midst, midway, nave, navel,
norm, normal, nub, nuclear, nucleus, omphalic, omphalos,
pacificatory, par, passive, passive voice, pith, pivot, pivotal,
reflexive, rule, run, stomach, storm center, umbilical, umbilicus,
via media, voice, waist