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middle

- 7 dictionary results

mid⋅dle

  [mid-l] adjective, noun, verb, -dled, -dling.
Use middle in a Sentence
–adjective
1. 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, egrapsámēn “I wrote for myself,” égrapsa “I wrote,” egráphēn “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 mid 1

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.

Antonyms:
1. extreme. 7. extremity.

Middle River

 
–noun
a city in N Maryland: suburb of Baltimore. 26,756.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To middle
mid·dle   (mĭd'l)   
adj.  
  1. Equally distant from extremes or limits; central: the middle point on a line.
  2. Being at neither one extreme nor the other; intermediate.
    1. Intervening between an earlier and a later period of time; being an intermediate part of a sequence or series: the middle years.
    2. Middle Geology Of or relating to a division of geologic time between an earlier and a later division: the Middle Paleozoic.
  4. Middle Of or relating to a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages: Middle Swedish.
  5. Grammar Of, relating to, or being a verb form or voice in which the subject both performs and is affected by the action specified.
n.  
  1. An area or a point equidistant between extremes; a center: the middle of a circle.
  2. Something intermediate between extremes; a mean.
  3. The interior portion: the middle of a chain.
  4. The middle part of the human body; the waist.
  5. Logic A middle term.
  6. Grammar
    1. The middle voice.
    2. A verb form in the middle voice.
tr.v.   mid·dled, mid·dling, mid·dles
  1. To place in the middle.
  2. Nautical To fold in the middle: middle the sail.

[Middle English middel, from Old English; see medhyo- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Middle

Mid"dle\, a. [OE. middel, AS. middel; akin to D. middel, OHG. muttil, G. mittel. ????. See Mid, a.]

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.

2. Intermediate; intervening.

Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends. --Sir J. Davies.

Note: Middle is sometimes used in the formation of selfexplaining compounds; as, middle-sized, middle-witted.

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

The middle-class electorate of Great Britain. --M. Arnold.

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, and the heavy 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.

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.

In this, as in most questions of state, there is a middle. --Burke.

Syn: See Midst.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : middle
Spanish: medio, centro,
German: die Mitte,
Japanese: まん中
More Translations »

middle 
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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middle

see caught in the middle; in the middle of; play both ends against the middle.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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