middle

Less common meanings

4. 4
   political centernoununcountable

   The center of the political spectrum, between left and right.

   The party tried to capture the middle by softening its platform.

   Candidates often drift toward the middle before a general election.

   UsageUsually the middle: fight for the middle, drift toward the middle, govern from the middle.

   Similarcenter, mainstream

   Note

   Political talk treats opinion as a line, and the middle is the stretch between its left and right wings, where moderate or centrist positions sit.

5. 5
   clean hit (cricket)verbtransitive

   In cricket, to strike the ball with the central part of the bat's face.

   He middled three deliveries in a row off the fast bowler.

   Good batters middle the ball even against late swing.

   Oppositeedge, mistime

   Note

   The batter's verb of praise. To middle a ball is to meet it with the central portion of the bat's face, which transfers the most energy and produces the crisp sound batters prize as the mark of well-timed contact. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Contact with the bat's sweet spot maximizes energy transfer to the ball. comsol.com
   • Good contact produces a characteristic crisp sound associated with effective batting. cricketcentre.com.au
6. 6
   center stumpnoununcountable

   In cricket, the central one of the three stumps that form the wicket.

   The batsman asked the umpire for middle before facing the first ball.

   Her full, straight delivery uprooted middle and ended a long innings.

   Note

   A cricketer's shorthand, clipped from middle stump. A batter taking guard may ask the umpire to show where the bat stands in line with the wicket. The request is traditionally phrased as asking for middle, with no article and no noun after it, so the stump's name doubles as the name of the guard. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • A batter taking guard may ask the umpire to establish the bat's alignment with the stumps. icc-umpireaccreditation.com
   • The bare word 'middle' is used when requesting guard. media.edapp.com
   • 'Middle' has an established historical use as the name of a guard. en.wikisource.org
7. 7
   verbobsoletetransitive

   To fold a rope into two equal parts at its center; to double it in the middle.

   Note

   Rigging language from sailing vessels, now obsolete. To middle a rope was to fold it at its center so the two halves lay together in equal lengths. The doubled line could then be seized at the bend or passed through a block. The verb is the idea of the midpoint put to work with the hands. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The verb belonged to the rigging language of sailing vessels. gutenberg.org
   • To middle a rope meant folding it at its center into two equal lengths. en.wiktionary.org
   • The middled rope could be secured with a seizing at its bend. gutenberg.org
   • A doubled rope could be placed through a block. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   verbobsoletetransitive

   To take a middle view of something; to adopt a position between two extremes.

   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.

   1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa

   Note

   An obsolete verb for splitting a question down its center. It took the issue as its object, and between could follow to name the two sides. In Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747–1748), a letter proposes "to middle the matter between both" while weighing a suitor's merits.

9. 9
   noun

   In grammar, the middle voice, a verb form in which the subject both performs the action and is affected by it.
10. 10
    adjective

    In grammar, relating to or characteristic of the middle voice.