I. ˈmidliŋ, -lēŋ adjective
Etymology: Middle English (Scots) mydlyn, probably from mid, midde mid + -ling
1. : falling between two extremes : constituting a mean : intermediate
the extreme school of innovators had wanted a people's republic, not a national monarchy, and protested noisily against the middling solution — Cecil Sprigge
2. : a middle, medium, or moderate size or degree
the harbor was no wider than a middling American river — Christopher Rand
3.
a. : of middle or medium quality : falling in a middle range of quality
b. : producing a yield (as of crops) or creating works (as of art or literature) falling in a middle range of quality or value
the middling lands — Time
whether eventually I proved first-class or merely middling — I should at least strive for consistent standards — Rex Ingamells
4. : mediocre , second-rate
the middling performance of a vulgar artist — Edmund Burke
5. dialect
a. : in moderately good health
b. : not very well : in rather poor health
6. : of, relating to, or constituting a middle class
II. adverb
: moderately , rather , fairly
the extremely successful, the middling successful, and the least successful — New Yorker
III. noun
( -s )
1. middlings plural but sometimes singular in construction
a. : the medium-sized particles separated in the sifting of ground grain
b. : a by-product of flour milling comprising several grades of granular particles containing different proportions of endosperm, bran, germ, and crude fiber and used as animal feed
2.
a. flitch 1b
b. or middling meat chiefly South & Midland : salt pork — often used in plural
3. : the basic grade of cotton on which market quotations are based
4. middlings pl but singular or plural in construction : a product of ore dressing intermediate between concentrate and tailings and containing enough of the valuable mineral to make re-treatment of it profitable
5. middlings plural : an inferior refined oil from petroleum