/ ˈmɪdl; NAmE / noun , adjective
■ noun
1.
the middle [ sing. ] the part of sth that is at an equal distance from all its edges or sides; a point or a period of time between the beginning and the end of sth :
a lake with an island in the middle
He was standing in the middle of the room.
The phone rang in the middle of the night.
This chicken isn't cooked in the middle.
His picture was right / bang (= exactly) in the middle of the front page.
Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle .
I should have finished by the middle of the week.
—see also monkey in the middle , piggy in the middle
2.
[ C , usually sing. ] ( informal ) a person's waist :
He grabbed her around the middle.
•
IDIOMS
- be in the middle of sth / of doing sth
- the middle of nowhere
- split / divide sth down the middle
■ adjective
[ only before noun ] in a position in the middle of an object, group of objects, people, etc. between the beginning and the end of sth :
Pens are kept in the middle drawer.
She's the middle child of three.
He was very successful in his middle forties.
a middle-sized room
the middle-income groups in society
•
IDIOMS
- (steer, take, etc.) a middle course | (find, etc.) a / the middle way
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English middel , of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch middel and German Mittel .