/mid"l/ , adj., n., v., middled, middling .
adj.
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. ( cap. ) (in the history of a language) intermediate between periods classified as Old and New or Modern: Middle English.
5. Gram. (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, egrapsámen "I wrote for myself," égrapsa "I wrote," egráphen "I was written."
6. ( often cap. ) Stratig. noting the division intermediate between the upper and lower divisions of a period, system, or the like: the Middle Devonian.
n.
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.
v.t. , v.i.
11. Chiefly Naut. to fold in half.
[ bef. 900; ME, OE middel; c. G mittel; akin to ON methal among. See MID 1 ]
Syn. 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.
Ant. 1. extreme. 7. extremity.