Middle

Middle, mid′l, adj. equally distant from the extremes: intermediate: intervening: (gram.) intermediate between active and passive, reflexive.—n. the middle point or part: midst: central portion, waist.—adjs. Midd′le-aged, of or about the middle period of life (from about 35 to 50); Midd′le-class, pertaining to, or included in, the middle class.—ns. Midd′le-earth (Shak.), the earth, considered as placed between the upper and lower regions; Midd′leman, one who stands in the middle between two persons: an agent who does business between two parties: in Ireland, one who rents land in large tracts, and lets it in small portions to the peasantry.—adjs. Midd′lemost, Mid′most (B.), nearest the middle; Midd′le-sized, of middle or average size.—ns. Midd′le-watch, the period between midnight and 4 A.M.; Midd′le-weight, a boxer or jockey of intermediate weight, between light and heavy weight.—adj. Midd′ling, of middle rate, state, size, or quality: about equally distant from the extremes: moderate: (Scot.) not in very good health: fairly well or prosperous.—adv. moderately.—n. Midd′lingness, mediocrity.—n.pl. Midd′lings, the coarser part of ground wheat.—Middle Ages, the time between the downfall of the western Roman empire, about 476 A.D., and the Reformation in the first quarter of the 16th century, or even earlier—in the later half of the preceding century, when printing was invented, America discovered, and the revival of learning took place; Middle class, that part of the people which comes between the nobility and the working-class; Middle distance (same as Middle ground); Middle English, English as spoken and written from 1350 to 1500 or 1550; Middle ground, the central portion of a picture—that is, between the foreground and background; Middle Kingdom, China; Middle passage, the voyage across the Atlantic from Africa to the West Indies, which was a time of horror on board a slave-ship; Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware; Middle term (logic), that term of a syllogism which appears both in the major premise and the minor, but not in the conclusion.—Middle-class schools, schools for the higher education of the middle class, intermediate between the primary schools and the large public schools or the universities. [A.S. middel—mid; Dut. middel, Ger. mittel.]