middle

noun
/ˈmɪdl̩/UK/ˈmɨdl̩//ˈmɪdl̩/US

Etymology

From Middle English myddel, middel, from Old English middel (“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midlą, *midilą, *medalą (“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō (“middle, midst”) (compare *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective)), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Middel (“middle”), West Frisian mul (“middle”), Dutch middel (“means; medicine, cure”), German mittel (“middle”, adjective), Mittel (“means; medicament, remedy”, noun), Luxembourgish Mëttel (“means, method; medicament”), Vilamovian mytuł (“middle”), Yiddish מיטל (mitl, “middle”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk middel (“means”), Icelandic meðal (“average; means, medicine”), Swedish medel (“average, mean, middle”). See also mid.

  1. derived from *médʰyos
  2. derived from *midjō
  3. inherited from *midlą
  4. inherited from middel
  5. inherited from myddel

Definitions

  1. A centre, midpoint.

    • The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.
  2. The part between the beginning and the end.

    • I woke up in the middle of the night.
    • In the middle of the marathon, David collapsed from fatigue.
  3. The middle stump.

  4. + 11 more definitions
    1. The central part of a human body

      The central part of a human body; the waist.

      • If I have a diet plan and stick to it, it is easy for me to have control over my middle.
    2. The middle voice.

    3. the center of the political spectrum.

      • As part of his successful re-election strategy, Clinton began governing from the middle.
    4. An essay on social or literary issues in a newspaper or magazine, originally placed…

      An essay on social or literary issues in a newspaper or magazine, originally placed between the leading articles and the reviews.

      • ‘Did you see the Spec. had a middle on “Rural Tenacities” last week. That was all Huckley.’
    5. Located in the middle

      Located in the middle; in between.

      • the middle point
      • middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages
    6. Central.

    7. Pertaining to the middle voice.

    8. To take a middle view of.

      • And now, to middle the matter between both, it is pity, that the man they favour has not that sort of merit which a person of a mind so delicate as that of Miss Harlowe might reasonably expect in a husband.
    9. To double (a rope) into two equal portions

      To double (a rope) into two equal portions; to fold in the middle.

    10. To strike (the ball) with the middle portion of the face of the bat.

    11. A sheading of the Isle of Man.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for middle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA