midden

[ mid-n ]
See synonyms for midden on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a dunghill or refuse heap.

Origin of midden

1
1300–50; Middle English midding<Old Danish mykdyngja, equivalent to myk manure + dyngja pile (Danish mødding)

Words Nearby midden

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use midden in a sentence

  • He'll shoot higher that shoots at the moon, than he that shoots at the midden, e'en though he may miss his mark.

    The Proverbs of Scotland | Alexander Hislop
  • Sir Banas, he comes in the night and makes them all alive at the back of our kitchen-midden,' piped the child.

    Kim | Rudyard Kipling
  • Possibly the party kept too far inland to see the shell midden sites along the Bay shore.

  • "Saft beddin's gude for sair banes," quo' Howie when he streekit himsel on the midden-head.

    The Proverbs of Scotland | Alexander Hislop
  • Whether they be remnants of an elevated sea-beach, or of some Indian ‘kitchen-midden,’ I dare not decide.

    At Last | Charles Kingsley

British Dictionary definitions for midden

midden

/ (ˈmɪdən) /


noun
    • archaic, or dialect a dunghill or pile of refuse

    • dialect a dustbin

    • Northern English dialect an earth closet

Origin of midden

1
C14: from Scandinavian; compare Danish mödding from mög muck + dynge pile

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012