midst

Noun

Synonyms: thick

WordNet 3.0

Noun (1)

the location of something surrounded by other things“in the midst of the crowd”Synonyms: thick

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Midst \Midst\, n. [From middest, in the middest, for older in middes, where -s is adverbial (orig. forming a genitive), or still older a midde, a midden, on midden. See Mid, and cf. Amidst.] [1913 Webster]

1.The interior or central part or place; the middle; -- used chiefly in the objective case after in; as, in the midst of the forest. [1913 Webster]

And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him.— Luke iv. 35.[1913 Webster]

There is nothing . . . in the midst [of the play] which might not have been placed in the beginning.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

2.Hence, figuratively, the condition of being surrounded or beset; the press; the burden; as, in the midst of official duties; in the midst of secular affairs. [1913 Webster]

Note: The expressions in our midst, in their midst, etc., are avoided by some good writers, the forms in the midst of us, in the midst of them, etc., being preferred. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Midst, Middle.

Usage: Midst in present usage commonly denotes a part or place surrounded on enveloped by or among other parts or objects (see Amidst); while middle is used of the center of length, or surface, or of a solid, etc. We say in the midst of a thicket; in the middle of a line, or the middle of a room; in the midst of darkness; in the middle of the night. [1913 Webster]

Midst \Midst\, prep. In the midst of; amidst. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Midst \Midst\, adv. In the middle. [R.] --Milton. [1913 Webster]