# middle

Pronunciation: say "MID-uhl" US/UK /ˈmɪdl̩/, AUS /ˈmɪdəl/

## Adjective

1. Positioned in the middle, between two ends or sides.
   - Simple: Found in the center, between two other things.
   - _The middle window lets in the most afternoon light._
   - _He sat in the middle row so he could see the whole stage._

## Noun

2. The central point or part of something, or the part between its beginning and end.
   - Simple: The center of something, or the part between its beginning and end.
   - _He folded the paper to mark its middle._
   - _A small island sits in the middle of the lake._
3. The central part of the human body, around the waist.
   - Simple: The part of your body around the waist.
   - _The doctor pressed gently on his middle to check for tenderness._
   - _The belt cinched neatly around her middle._
4. The center of the political spectrum, between left and right.
   - Simple: The political views that sit between the left and the right.
   - _The party tried to capture the middle by softening its platform._
   - _Candidates often drift toward the middle before a general election._
6. In cricket, the central one of the three stumps that form the wicket.
   - Simple: In cricket, the center stump of the three behind the batter.
   - _The batsman asked the umpire for middle before facing the first ball._
   - _Her full, straight delivery uprooted middle and ended a long innings._

## Verb

5. In cricket, to strike the ball with the central part of the bat's face.
   - Simple: In cricket, to hit the ball with the center of the bat.
   - _He middled three deliveries in a row off the fast bowler._
   - _Good batters middle the ball even against late swing._

## Verb

7. To fold a rope into two equal parts at its center; to double it in the middle. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To fold a rope in half into two equal parts.
8. To take a middle view of something; to adopt a position between two extremes. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To take a position halfway between two sides on a question.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In grammar, the middle voice, a verb form in which the subject both performs the action and is affected by it.
- (adjective) In grammar, relating to or characteristic of the middle voice.

## Origin

Old English middel ("middle, center, waist") passed into Middle English as middel. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *midlą, a diminutive of *midjō ("middle, midst"), and before that to the Proto-Indo-European form *médʰyos, meaning "between" or "in the middle." Dutch middel, German mittel and Swedish medel are related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/middle (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).