equally distant from the extremes or outer limits; central: the middle point of a line; the middle singer in a trio.
2.
intermediate or intervening: the middle distance.
3.
medium or average: a man of middle size.
4.
(initial capital letter) (in the history of a language) intermediate between periods classified as Old and New or Modern: Middle English.
5.
Grammar. (in some languages) noting a voice of verb inflection in which the subject is represented as acting on or for itself, in contrast to the active voice in which the subject acts, and the passive voice in which the subject is acted upon, as in Greek, egrapsámén “I wrote for myself,” égrapsa “I wrote,” egráphén “I was written.”
6.
(often initial capital letter) Stratigraphy. noting the division intermediate between the upper and lower divisions of a period, system, or the like: the Middle Devonian.
–noun
7.
the point, part, position, etc., equidistant from extremes or limits.
8.
the central part of the human body, esp. the waist: He gave him a punch in the middle.
9.
something intermediate; mean.
10.
(in farming) the ground between two rows of plants.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
11.
Chiefly Nautical. to fold in half.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE middel; c. G mittel; akin to ON methal among. See mid1]
—Synonyms 1. equidistant, halfway, medial, midway. 7. midpoint. Middle,center,midst indicate something from which two or more other things are (approximately or exactly) equally distant. Middle denotes, literally or figuratively, the point or part equidistant from or intermediate between extremes or limits in space or in time: the middle of a road. Center, a more precise word, is ordinarily applied to a point within circular, globular, or regular bodies, or wherever a similar exactness appears to exist: the center of the earth; it may also be used metaphorically (still suggesting the core of a sphere): center of interest. Midst usually suggests that a person or thing is closely surrounded or encompassed on all sides, esp. by that which is thick or dense: the midst of a storm.
O.E. middel, from W.Gmc. *middila (cf. M.L.G., Du. middel), from P.Gmc. *medjaz (see mid). Middle age "period between youth and old age" is attested from 1377; middle aged first recorded 1608. Middle Ages "period between ancient and modern times" (formerly roughly 500-1500 C.E., now more usually 1000-1500) is from 1616, translating L. medium ævum (cf. Ger. mittelalter, Fr. moyen âge). First record of middle class is from 1766; as an adj., "characteristic of the middle class" (depreciative) it dates from 1893. Middle name first attested 1835, Amer.Eng. Middlebrow first recorded 1925. Middleman in the trading sense is from 1795; middle management is 1957. Middle-of-the-road in the fig. sense is attested from 1894; in old times, edges of the dirt road could be washed out and thus less safe.
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]
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: late, early]
4.
between an earlier and a later period of time; "in the middle years"; "in his middle thirties" [ant: late, early]
noun
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]
2.
an intermediate part or section; "A whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end"- Aristotle [ant: end, beginning]
3.
the middle area of the human torso (usually in front); "young American women believe that a bare midriff is fashionable"
4.
time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period; "the middle of the war"; "rain during the middle of April" [ant: end, beginning]
Middle River, MN (city, FIPS 41912) Location: 48.43564 N, 96.16191 W Population (1990): 285 (149 housing units) Area: 1.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 56737
Middle River, MD (CDP, FIPS 52300) Location: 39.33405 N, 76.43403 W Population (1990): 24616 (9925 housing units) Area: 20.1 sq km (land), 1.9 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 21220
Middle Point, OH (village, FIPS 49728) Location: 40.85596 N, 84.44681 W Population (1990): 639 (239 housing units) Area: 1.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 45863
Middle Island, NY (CDP, FIPS 46976) Location: 40.88500 N, 72.94390 W Population (1990): 7848 (3184 housing units) Area: 21.4 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 11953
Middle Hope, NY Zip code(s): 12550
Middle Grove, NY Zip code(s): 12850
Middle Granville, NY Zip code(s): 12849
Middle Brook, MO Zip code(s): 63656
Middle Village, NY Zip code(s): 11379
Middle Valley, TN (CDP, FIPS 48360) Location: 35.18772 N, 85.18940 W Population (1990): 12255 (4297 housing units) Area: 35.4 sq km (land), 4.4 sq km (water)
Age\ ([=a]j), n. [OF. aage, eage, F. [^a]ge, fr. L. aetas through a supposed LL. aetaticum. L. aetas is contracted fr. aevitas, fr. aevum lifetime, age; akin to E. aye ever. Cf. Each.]1. The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime. Mine age is as nothing before thee. --Ps. xxxix. 5. 2. That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; as, what is the present age of a man, or of the earth? 3. The latter part of life; an advanced period of life; seniority; state of being old. Nor wrong mine age with this indignity. --Shak. 4. One of the stages of life; as, the age of infancy, of youth, etc. --Shak. 5. Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities; as, to come of age; he (or she) is of age. --Abbott. Note: In the United States, both males and females are of age when twenty-one years old. 6. The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested; as, the age of consent; the age of discretion. --Abbott. 7. A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others; as, the golden age, the age of Pericles. "The spirit of the age." --Prescott. Truth, in some age or other, will find her witness. --Milton. Note: Archeological ages are designated as three: The Stone age (the early and the later stone age, called paleolithic and neolithic), the Bronze age, and the Iron age. During the Age of Stone man is supposed to have employed stone for weapons and implements. See Augustan, Brazen, Golden, Heroic, Middle. 8. A great period in the history of the Earth. Note: The geologic ages are as follows: 1. The Arch[ae]an, including the time when was no life and the time of the earliest and simplest forms of life. 2. The age of Invertebrates, or the Silurian, when the life on the globe consisted distinctively of invertebrates. 3. The age of Fishes, or the Devonian, when fishes were the dominant race. 4. The age of Coal Plants, or Acrogens, or the Carboniferous age. 5. The Mesozoic or Secondary age, or age of Reptiles, when reptiles prevailed in great numbers and of vast size. 6. The Tertiary age, or age of Mammals, when the mammalia, or quadrupeds, abounded, and were the dominant race. 7. The Quaternary age, or age of Man, or the modern era. --Dana. 9. A century; the period of one hundred years. Fleury . . . apologizes for these five ages. --Hallam. 10. The people who live at a particular period; hence, a generation. "Ages yet unborn." --Pope. The way which the age follows. --J. H. Newman. Lo! where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age. --C. Sprague. 11. A long time. [Colloq.] "He made minutes an age." --Tennyson. Age of a tide, the time from the origin of a tide in the South Pacific Ocean to its arrival at a given place. Moon's age, the time that has elapsed since the last preceding conjunction of the sun and moon. Note: Age is used to form the first part of many compounds; as, agelasting, age-adorning, age-worn, age-enfeebled, agelong. Syn: Time; period; generation; date; era; epoch.
Dark\ (d[aum]rk), a. [OE. dark, derk, deork, AS. dearc, deorc; cf. Gael. & Ir. dorch, dorcha, dark, black, dusky.]1. Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day! --Milton. In the dark and silent grave. --Sir W. Raleigh. 2. Not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through; obscure; mysterious; hidden. The dark problems of existence. --Shairp. What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain. --Hooker. What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word? --Shak. 3. Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant. The age wherein he lived was dark, but he Could not want light who taught the world to see. --Denhan. The tenth century used to be reckoned by medi[ae]val historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. --Hallam. 4. Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed. Left him at large to his own dark designs. --Milton. 5. Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious. More dark and dark our woes. --Shak. A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature. --Macaulay. There is, in every true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. --W. Irving. 6. Deprived of sight; blind. [Obs.] He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years. --Evelyn. Note: Dark is sometimes used to qualify another adjective; as, dark blue, dark green, and sometimes it forms the first part of a compound; as, dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-colored, dark-seated, dark-working. A dark horse, in racing or politics, a horse or a candidate whose chances of success are not known, and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of general comment or of wagers. [Colloq.] Dark house, Dark room, a house or room in which madmen were confined. [Obs.] --Shak. Dark lantern. See Lantern. -- The Dark Ages, a period of stagnation and obscurity in literature and art, lasting, according to Hallam, nearly 1000 years, from about 500 to about 1500 A. D.. See Middle Ages, under Middle. The Dark and Bloody Ground, a phrase applied to the State of Kentucky, and said to be the significance of its name, in allusion to the frequent wars that were waged there between Indians. The dark day, a day (May 19, 1780) when a remarkable and unexplained darkness extended over all New England. To keep dark, to reveal nothing. [Low]
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Audio Help [mid-l] Pronunciation Key adjective, noun, verb, -dled, -dling. 
