pos>n. pl. [ Dan. kjök-kenmöddings kitchen leavings; cf. Scot. midden a dunghill. ] Relics of neolithic man found on the coast of Denmark, consisting of shell mounds, some of which are ten feet high, one thousand feet long, and two hundred feet wide. The name is applied also to similar mounds found on the American coast from Canada to Florida, made by the North American Indians. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. occupying the lower part of the middle socioeconomic range in a society. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ AS. middaeg. See Mid, a., and Day. ] The middle part of the day; noon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to noon; meridional; as, the midday sun. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Also midding. ] [ Cf. Dan. mögdynge, E. muck, and dung. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A dunghill. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An accumulation of refuse about a dwelling place; especially, an accumulation of shells or of cinders, bones, and other refuse on the supposed site of the dwelling places of prehistoric tribes, -- as on the shores of the Baltic Sea and in many other places. See Kitchen middens. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) The common European crow. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Midst; middle. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a.; superl. of Mid. [ See Midst. ] Situated most nearly in the middle; middlemost; midmost. [ Obs. ] “ 'Mongst the middest crowd.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Midden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. middel, AS. middel; akin to D. middel, OHG. muttil, G. mittel. √271. See Mid, a. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Equally distant from the extreme either of a number of things or of one thing; mean; medial; as, the middle house in a row; a middle rank or station in life; flowers of middle summer; men of middle age. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Intermediate; intervening. [ 1913 Webster ]

Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends. Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Middle is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, middle-sized, middle-witted. [ 1913 Webster ]

Middle Ages, the period of time intervening between the decline of the Roman Empire and the revival of letters. Hallam regards it as beginning with the sixth and ending with the fifteenth century. --
Middle class, in England, people who have an intermediate position between the aristocracy and the artisan class. It includes professional men, bankers, merchants, and small landed proprietors [ 1913 Webster ] The middle-class electorate of Great Britain. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ] --
Middle distance. (Paint.) See Middle-ground. --
Middle English. See English, n., 2. --
Middle Kingdom, China. --
Middle oil (Chem.), that part of the distillate obtained from coal tar which passes over between 170° and 230° Centigrade; -- distinguished from the light oil, and the heavy oil or dead oil. --
Middle passage, in the slave trade, that part of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the West Indies. --
Middle post. (Arch.) Same as King-post. --
Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; which, at the time of the formation of the Union, occupied a middle position between the Eastern States (or New England) and the Southern States. [ U.S. ] --
Middle term (Logic), that term of a syllogism with which the two extremes are separately compared, and by means of which they are brought together in the conclusion. Brande. --
Middle tint (Paint.), a subdued or neutral tint. Fairholt. --
Middle voice. (Gram.) See under Voice. --
Middle watch, the period from midnight to four a. m.; also, the men on watch during that time. Ham. Nav. Encyc. --
Middle weight, a pugilist, boxer, or wrestler classed as of medium weight, i. e., over 140 and not over 160 lbs., in distinction from those classed as light weights, heavy weights, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. middel. See Middle, a. ] The point or part equally distant from the extremities or exterior limits, as of a line, a surface, or a solid; an intervening point or part in space, time, or order of series; the midst; central portion; specif., the waist. Chaucer. “The middle of the land.” Judg. ix. 37. [ 1913 Webster ]

In this, as in most questions of state, there is a middle. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Midst. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Middle + age. Cf. Mediaeval. ] Of or pertaining to the Middle Ages; mediaeval. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Being about the middle of the ordinary age of man; early in the century, it was considered between 30 and 50 years old, but by the end of the 19th centruy it was considered as 40 to 60. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. The world, considered as lying between heaven and hell. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Paint.) That part of a picture between the foreground and the background. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. intermediate in rank or position; as, middle-level management. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Middlemen [ 1913 Webster ]

1. An agent between two parties; a broker; a go-between; any dealer between the producer and the consumer; in Ireland, one who takes land of the proprietors in large tracts, and then rents it out in small portions to the peasantry. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person of intermediate rank; a commoner. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mil.) The man who occupies a central position in a file of soldiers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Midmost. ] Being in the middle, or nearest the middle; midmost. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. supporting or pursuing a course of action that is neither liberal nor conservative.
Syn. -- centrist, moderate. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. not extreme, especially in political views. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

-- middle-of-the-roader, n. -- middle-of-the-roadism, n.

n. One of a middle or intermediate class in some schools and seminaries. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of middle rank, state, size, or quality; about equally distant from the extremes; medium; moderate; mediocre; ordinary. “A town of but middling size.” Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plainly furnished, as beseemed the middling circumstances of its inhabitants. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Mid"dling*ly, adv. -- Mid"dling*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. 1. A combination of the coarser parts of ground wheat the finest bran, separated from the fine flour and coarse bran in bolting; -- formerly regarded as valuable only for feed; but now, after separation of the bran, used for making the best quality of flour. Middlings contain a large proportion of gluten. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In the southern and western parts of the United States, the portion of the hog between the ham and the shoulder; bacon; -- called also middles. Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Middies A colloquial abbreviation of midshipman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A dunghill. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Smithy. ] A smithy. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]