-- 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, and the
heavy 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.
Mid"dle (?), 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.
In this, as in most questions of state, there is a middle.
Burke.
Syn. -- See Midst.
Mid"dle-age` (?), [Middle + age. Cf. Mediæval.] Of or pertaining to the
Middle Ages; mediæval.
Mid"dle-aged` (?), a. Being about the middle of the ordinary age of
man; between 30 and 50 years old.
Mid"dle-earth` (?), n. The world, considered as lying between heaven
and hell. [Obs.] Shak.
Mid"dle-ground` (?), n. (Paint.) That part of a picture between the
foreground and the background.
Mid"dle*man (?), n.; pl. Middlemen (&?;).
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.