▪ I. middling, n.
(ˈmɪdlɪŋ)
In 6 midlyng, 7 midling.
[Prob. orig. f. mid a. + -ling1, suggested by the earlier Sc. middling a. The surviving senses, however, represent absolute or elliptical uses of the adj.
The n. (except for the doubtful example quoted in 2 below) occurs first at the beginning of the 17th c., concurrently with the adoption of the Scottish adj. by southern writers.]
1. † a. Something intermediate; a mean, middle term. Obs.
| 1614–15 Boys Expos. Fest. Ep. & Gosp. Wks. (1630) 573 John Baptist, the last of the Prophets, and first of Apostles, a midling as it were betweene both. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 89 But the midlings are disparates both to the extremes, and among themselues. |
b. A person who or a thing which is mediocre or second-rate (cf. middling a. 3 b); freq. in dial. phr. among the middlings, of a mediocre class; also, in a moderate condition of health.
| 1877 Sunday Mag. 182 ‘How are you getting on, Dick?’.. ‘Well, only among the middlings, Sir.’ 1885 R. Holland Gloss. County of Chester 226, I said to his employer, ‘What sort of a man is your team-man?’ The answer was, ‘Well! he's just about among the middlings;’ so I did not engage him. 1931 R. Campbell Georgiad iii. 62 They're all members of the self-same school, And drilled..to enforce on all The standards of the middling and the small. 1964 R. Church Voyage Home ii. 28 Whenever I asked after his permanently ailing wife, he beamed with benevolence and replied: ‘Oh, amongst the middlings, you know, amongst the middlings.’ |
2. pl. Pins of medium size.
The sense in the first quot. is doubtful; Jamieson explains it as above. Possibly the word may be a. MDu. middelinc, which appears to denote some kind of nail (= middelnagel); cf. MLG. middelink, the middle finger.
| 1543 Aberdeen Reg. XVIII. (Jam.), xviiij paperis of prenis, the price xxvij sh., ane bout of midlyngis the price vj. sh., & tua hankis of wyir the price xxiiij sh. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 227 Pincushions..capable..of containing..a whole paper of short-whites and another of middlings. |
3. pl. Used as a trade name for the middle one of three classes into which goods are sorted according to quality. (Cf. middling a. 3.) a. of fuller's teasels.
| 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 2 The next smallest which are sound, and are commonly such as grow as side heads on each branch, are thrown for a second sort, and are called middlings. 1797 Billingsley View Agric. Somerset 111 [Teasels] are sorted into..kings, middlings, and scrubs. |
b. U.S. of cotton.
| 1793 Washington Lett. Writ. 1891 XII. 382 The middlings and ship stuff may be sold to answer the money calls which you will have upon you. 1881 Standard 14 Sept. 4/7 The class of cotton known as ‘middlings’. |
c. of flour or meal.
| 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman IV. iii. 63 Its second, or Middling, or that Meal commonly made Use of by Farmers for spending it in their Families. 1786 G. Washington Diary 13 Sept. (1925) III. 116 My Corn being out, or nearly so, I was obliged to have middlings and ship stuff mixed for bread. 1842 P. Parley's Ann. III. 126 One of the nicest, cleanest, fattest pigs that was ever killed,..fattened with nothing but peas and middlings. a 1845 Hood Lament of Toby ii, But must I give the classics up, For barley-meal and middlings? 1893 Gunter Miss Dividends 244 Some bread made of middlings. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 107/1 A balanced ration for weaner piglets is 40 parts middlings, 25 parts barley meal, [etc.]. 1969 G. E. Evans Farm & Village vi. 72 The miller..used to charge us..for grinding the corn. But we got the offal as well as the flour, and the best middlings we fed to the pigs. |
d. of minerals.
| 1869 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. XCVII. 9 The amount of heavy lubricating oil was largely increased, and the ‘middlings’ correspondingly diminished. 1909 Webster, Middling,..pl. The second quality of ore obtained by washing. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. ix. 135/2 Low-grade magnetic concentrates and a high proportion of middlings. |
4. U.S. (See quot. 1859.) Also in sing.
| 1777 Calendar Virginia State Papers (1875) I. 288 Bakin in hams, midlings, shoulders, &c. 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants 172 To make bacon of hams, shoulders, and middlings or broadsides. 1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life xi. 79, I got also a large middling of bacon, and killed a fine deer. 1848 Rep. Comm. Patents 1847 (U.S.) 527 The hog thus cut up into shoulders, hams and middlings undergoes further trimming. 1857 ‘Porte Crayon’ Virginia Illustr. i. 31 Fried middling and hot coffee were then served round. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Middlings 2. A term used in the West for pork, meaning the portion of the animal between the hams and shoulders. Thus the Price Current quotes hams, shoulders, and middlings. 1904 E. Glasgow Deliverance 51 She has had to fry the middling in the kitchen, and mother complains so of the smell. |
5. ‘That portion of a gun-stock between the grasp and the tail-pipe or ramrod-thimble’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875).
▪ II. middling, a. and adv.
(ˈmɪd(ə)lɪŋ)
Forms: 5 mydlyn, 6 midiling, 6–8 midling, 7 middleing, 7– middling.
[App. of Sc. origin: the earliest examples in Eng. writers belong to the reign of James I.
Prob. orig. f. mid a. + -ling in adjs. like eastling, westling (where the suffix seems to represent a blending, in attributive use, of -ling1 and -ling2). In English use of the beginning of the 17th c., the adj. appears to have been apprehended as an attributive application of the n., which came in at the same time; Ben Jonson uses both freely.]
A. adj.
† 1. Intermediate between two things; forming a mean between two extremes. Obs.
Quot. 1645 may belong to middling ppl. a.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 118 Bot than is vertu morale in the mydlyn way. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. ii, A certaine midling thing, betweene a foole and a madman. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 234 As the Physician cures him who hath taken down poyson, not by the middling temper of nourishment, but by the other extreme of antidote. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles iii. 103 These Demons the Romans called Semi-Gods and Medioxumi or midling Gods. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. v. 138 A middling Medicine, between a Plaster and a Cataplasm. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. i. §2 (1734) 115 If Care be taken to keep up the Juices in this middling condition. 1767 tr. Voltaire's Ignorant Philosopher xxxii. 86 The middling state between health and disease. |
2. Of medium or moderate size; moderately large. Now (exc. in middling size, middling degree, etc.) only colloq. or vulgar, as an application of sense 3 b.
| 1596 Aberdeen Reg. (1848) II. 139 Thrie midling schippis, to pass to the Ilis for subdewing of the hieland men. 1598 in Black Bk. Taymouth (Bannatyne Cl.) 330 Off midling plaittis thair, ii do. vi; off greit plaittis thair, xiii. 1671 Marten Voy. into Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1694) 80 He is as big as a midling Duck. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 316 As you gather your Fruit, separate the fairest and biggest from the middling. 1792 tr. Brissot's Trav. 249 Quarries of Marble of a middling fineness. 1831 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 269 Being able to carry a soldier of a middling size in each hand, when his arms were extended. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxx. (1856) 264 When colder, say—40°, with a middling breeze. 1871 Blackmore Maid of Sker (1881) 77 A middling keg of Hollands, and an anker of old rum. 1898 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Rom. Canvass Town 71 You have a middling cheque, I believe. |
b. Comb., as middling-sized († middling-size) adj.
| a 1756 E. Haywood New Present (1771) 62 Get four or five middling-sized eels. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 42/1 Q. What sort of a man was Mahomed Comaul? A. A middling size man. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge iv, A middling-sized dish of beef and ham. |
† c. Average. Obs.
| 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xii. 296 This is near half of the middling price in our time. |
3. Comm. Used as a designation for the second of three grades of goods.
| 1550 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 107 The best moutoun for ixs, the midiling moutoun for viiis, and the worst moutoun for viis. 1693 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 86 Middling wheat at 56s. a quarter; middling sort of rye at 36s. a quarter. 1859 Stationers' Handbk. (ed. 2) 111 Sample of the make termed Blue wove. This is a middling quality, commoner sorts would be lower,..better kinds higher in colour. 1864 R. L. De Coin Cotton & Tobacco 192 Substantial upland middling cottons of good staple. 1887 Daily News 23 Feb. 2/6 Coffee..low middling to middling, 77s to 83s; good middling to fine middling, 83s 6d to 88s. 1889 Century Dict. s.v. Fair a., Fair to middling, moderately good: a term designating a specific grade of quality in the market. |
b. Moderately good, mediocre, second-rate.
| 1652 Tatham Scotch Fig. iv. i. Dram. Wks. (1878) 161 Children, you talk not like men, you are but middling Christians. 1677 Dryden Apol. Her. Poetry, Longinus..has judiciously preferr'd the sublime Genius that sometimes erres, to the midling or indifferent one which makes few faults but seldome or never rises to any Excellence. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Introd. Wks. 1842 I. 27 The middling performance of a vulgar artist. 1833 Hood Epping Hunt xxxii, All sorts of vehicles and vans, Bad, middling, and the smart. 1882 M. Arnold Irish Ess. 247 The abundant consumption of middling literature. 1895 H. Beveridge in Speaker 14 Sept. 288/1 In the matter of trade disputes, however, he was only a middling success. |
† 4. Middle-aged. Obs.
| 1610 Boys Exp. Dom. Epist. & Gosp. Wks. (1622) 228 Young Lawyers, old Physitians, and midling Divines are best; an old Preacher cannot teach so painfully, and the young not so profitably, but the midling may doe both [etc.]. |
5. Belonging to the middle classes. middling class = middle class.
| 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccxxx. 201 There was a Middling sort of a Man that was left well enough to pass by his Father, but could never think he had enough, so long as any Man had more. 1718 Free-thinker No. 19. 129 The Middling People of England are generally Good-natured and Stout-hearted. 1789 T. Anburey Trav. II. 393 This diversion is a great favourite of the middling and lower classes. 1847 Grote Greece ii. xxxvii. (1862) III. 357 He was a citizen of middling station. 1897 Maitland Domesday & Beyond 65 Now if these things are being done in the middling strata of society [etc.]. |
| absol. 1782 Crevecoeur Lett. 72 The rich stay in Europe, it is only the middling and poor that emigrate. |
† 6. Occupying a middle position. Obs.
| 1747 Gentl. Mag. XVII. 330 note, In many of the midling counties,..there is scarce any difference between the whole number of members at that time and this. |
† 7. middling teeth (see quot.). Obs.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Middling-Teeth,..are the four teeth of a horse that come out at three years and a half, in the room of other four foal teeth; from which situation they derive the title of Middling. |
B. adv. (Now chiefly colloq.: common dial. and in vulgar use.)
1. Qualifying an adj. or adv.: Moderately, fairly, tolerably.
| 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 411 He form'd out of one of the Iron Crows a middling good Anvil. 1779 E. Beatty in J. L. Hardenbergh's Jrnl. (1879) 63 The road middling hilly. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ii. 109 Mister Sawin, sir, you're middlin' well now, be ye? 1880 H. James Portr. Lady v, She was thin, and light, and middling tall. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains v, If a light is not rather more than middling good, it will be radically bad. |
2. Fairly well; chiefly predicatively, fairly well in health; not very well.
| 1810 W. B. Rhodes Bomb. Fur. i. (1830) 7 We are but middling—that is, but so so. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxi, ‘How de do?’ ‘Middling’, replies Mr. George. 1877 Princess Alice in Mem. 6 Nov. (1884) 367, I am but very middling. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman v. iii. 287 ‘We'll do middling if we get a market’, said Pete. |
Hence ˈmiddlingish adv., dial. or vulgar.
| 1820 J. A. Dowling Coroners Inquest on J. Lees 18, I believe it was a middlingish good hat before he went to the meeting. 1876 Farjeon Love's Victory ii, ‘A gentleman, then?’ ‘Well, yes, sir; middlingish.’. |
▪ III. † ˈmiddling, ppl. a. Obs. rare—1.
[f. middle v. + -ing2.]
Acting as a go-between, intermediary.
| 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass i. vi. 219 What doe you say vnto a middling Gossip To bring you aye together, at her lodging? |