Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

midst       (mĭdst, mĭtst)  Pronunciation Key  n.   The middle position or part; the center: in the midst of the desert. A position of proximity to others: a stranger in our midst. The condition of being surrounded or beset by something: in the midst of all of our problems. A period of time approximately in the middle of a continuing condition or act: in the midst of the war. prep.   Among; amid. [Middle English middes, middest : alteration of Old English midde, middle; see medhyo- in Indo-European roots.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
midst 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

midst

noun

the location of something surrounded by other things; "in the midst of the crowd"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.]

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.

And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him. --Luke iv. 35.

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

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.

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.

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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Midst

Midst\, prep. In the midst of; amidst. --Shak.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Midst

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