mediety
(mɪˈdaɪɪtɪ)
[ad. L. medietās (whence OF. moietié moiety; OF. had also the learned form medieté), f. medius middle: see -ty.]
1. † a. gen. A half. Obs.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 288 The muste, decoct to his medietee Or thridde part, they casteth to their wyne. 1571 Digges Pantom. ii. iv. M ij b, 140 whose medietie being 70, diuided by 14, yeldeth 5. 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Physick v. xxiv. (1596) 343 The common measure or quantity therof [sc. of the dose of arsenic], is the mediety of one graine of wheate. 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. xxi. 449 The medietie of the Moones globe was allwaies illustrated which is towardes the sunne. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. xvi. 106 Let us consider the Occidental Mediety of Heaven. |
b. spec. in Law. = moiety. Chiefly with reference to ecclesiastical benefices.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Warw. (1662) ii. 126 That good Mannour (with the alternate gift of the Mediety of the rich Parsonage therein). 1834 Southey Doctor xlii. (1862) 100 A rectory of two medieties, served by two resident rectors. 1877 J. C. Cox Ch. Derbysh. III. 212 Sir Henry Chandos succeeded to the mediety of the Mugginton manor. 1894 A. Jessopp Random Roaming, etc. 186 This benefice consists of two medieties. |
† 2. Middle or intermediate state, position, or quality. Obs.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 135 A very compounde of contrarietyes In thinges indifferent and medietyes. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God ix. xiii. (1620) 333 In seeking a mediety betweene immortality blessed and mortality wretched. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (1685) 661 The Pope means..to carry himself as it were in a Mediety between the King of Spain, and the great Duke. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1655) I. vi. xiv. 258 This Cabal..was reveal'd..to Solomon in a dream, wherby he came to know the beginning, mediety, and consummation of times. 1651 Biggs New Disp. §183 It ought to consist in a mediety, betwixt corrupt and very sound bloud. |
† 3. Moderation. (Cf. mean n.2) Obs.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. sig. I marg., Medietie to be obserued in meats. |
† 4. Math. The quality of being a mean between two quantities; hence = mean n.2 8. Obs.
| 1598 J. D. tr. L. Le Roy's Aristotle's Polit. v. 250 Similitude or likenesse of proportions, and equality, and mediety. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1255 Three sorts of primitive Medieties there be,..to wit, Arithmeticall, Geometricall, and Harmonicall. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §20. 376 The Tetrad is an arithmetical mediety betwixt the Monad and the Hebdomad. 1694 Holder Harmony iv. 47 Now in 4 to 2 the Mediety is 3. Ibid. vii. 168 These two divide Diapason, 64 to 32, by the Mediety of 45; And they divide it so near to Equality, that in Practice they are hardly to be distinguished. |