midst, n., adv., and prep.
(mɪdst)
Forms: 5 medeste, 5–7 myddest, 5–8 (9 arch. rare) middest, 6 middeste, mydst, 7 middst, midd'st, midest, 8 mid'st, 6– midst.
[First appears in the 15th c. as middest. Prob. two different formations have been confused: (1) an extended form of middes, mids, with the excrescent (euphonic or analogical) t as in amongst, against, whilst, and the dialectal onst for once, nice't (naɪst) for nice; (2) an absolute use of the superlative middest a.]
A. n.
1. The middle point or part; the centre, middle. Obs. or arch.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 5396 He saȝe a dym cloude Full of starand sternes and stiȝtild in þe myddest A grete grysely god. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 455 He was at þe myddest of þe brygg. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn liv. 208 Subbion in the middest, and Blanchardine the hindmost. 1517 Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 214 King James..about the middest of march tooke his p'gresse towards Scotland. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 197 Hee died before he had brought the worke to the midst. 1588 Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 250 Ierusalem..is in the midst of our Hemysphere. 1592 Timme Ten Eng. Lepers F j, I will but touch three parts: to wit, the beginning, the middest, and the end. 1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Wars Flanders 210 About the midst of January. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Shropsh. (1662) iii. 1 This Shire being almost in the middest of England. 1671 H. M. Erasm. Colloq. 319 If thou open the black stone Cyamea, thou shalt find a bean in the midst. 1695 Dryden Dufresnoy's Art Painting Pref. 44 One Play..where there is nothing in the First Act, but what might have been said or done in the Fifth; nor any thing in the Midst, which might not have been plac'd as well in the Beginning or the End. a 1894 Stevenson Tales and Fantasies, J. Nicholson (1905) 76 He was not past the midst of the first field. |
2. The position of being in the interior of, involved or enveloped in, or surrounded by (something, or a number of things or persons, specified or implied). Now almost exclusively in the phrase in the midst of (formerly also † among the midst of), chiefly in the senses: Among, amid, surrounded by (a number of things or persons); while fully engaged with, ‘in the thick of’ (occupations, troubles, etc.); during the continuance of (an action or condition).
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl., Salut. & Nativ. (Shaks. Soc. 1843) 113 And one his breste written also The landes naimes and goodes bouth too, And sette also in the medeste [E.E.T.S. ed. p. 127, myddes] of thoe, God of Rome righte as a kinge. 1535 Coverdale Luke iv. 35 And the deuell threw him in the myddest [1611 middes] amonge them. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Burial of Dead, In the myddest of lyfe we be in death. 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 12 A woman sitteth crowned in parliament amongest the middest of men. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 58 While you were in the middest of your sport. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxxii. 109 In the midest of the battell. 1611 Bible Deut. iv. 12 And the Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 270 In the middest of all this hurley burley. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 315 To plucke thee out of the middest of a froward and crooked generation. a 1658 Cleveland Rustick Rampant Wks. (1687) 445 Made his Way with his Sword alone..into the middest of their Troops. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 153 ¶6 In the midst of an adventure. 1818 Shelley Rosal. & Helen 860 In the midst of a city vast and wide. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 289 Armies..were kept up in the midst of peace. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. i, From the midst of those smiling heavens he had seen a sword hanging. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid iii. 104 Crete, in the midst of the waters lies. Mod. In the midst of his enormous labours, he has found time to [etc.]. |
† b. to leave in the midst [= L. in medio relinquere]: to leave undecided, abstain from giving an opinion on.
| 1625 Gill Sacr. Philos. i. 107, I leave it in the middest, till further proofe of the truth be made. |
c. With a possessive, usually of plural pronoun, (in) our midst, your midst, their midst.
This use is scarcely found before the 19th century; the solitary example from the 16th c. does not prove that it was current. Cf. ‘in her middes’ (= in their midst) Apol. Loll. (c 1400) 12.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxxxv. iv, Not so his dreadfull showes he ceas'd, But did them still in ægipts mid'st renew. 1794 C. John in Southey Life A. Bell (1844) I. 205 If we then could have had our dear Dr. Bell in our midst, our pleasures and improvements would have been greatly heightened. 1825 J. Montgomery in Chr. Psalmist (1828) 414 Lo, in their midst his form was seen, The form in which He died. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xi. (1866) 200 When..his shield [should] be hung aloft again as of old in the camp's midst, a sign of help to the poor and the oppressed. 1867 W. L. Newman in Quest. Reformed Parl. 119 Her vast and available coalfields, her iron mines, the energy of her people, founded cities in her midst. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 133 The enduring light that broke out in their midst. |
d. With omission of article, in midst (of). Now only poet. (rare).
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 5 In middest of the race. Ibid. i. ix. 10, I ever..ioyde to stirre up strife, In middest of their mournfull Tragedy. a 1617 Bayne On Eph. (1643) 114 To reckon him in middest of his dearest favorites. 1617 Janua Ling. Advt., That should haue brought thee in midst a faire orchyard. 1861 Lytton & Fane Tannhäuser 112 In midst, His worn cheek channell'd with unwonted tears, The Landgrave. 1880 Watson Prince's Quest 63 There towered In middest of that silent realm deflowered A palace. |
¶ poet. with transposition of possessive adj.
| 1671 Milton Samson 1339 And in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief To shew them feats. |
† 3. A medium, middle course or term, mean. Sc. Obs. Cf. mids.
| c 1610 Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1735) 19 Rather following the Extremity than the right Midst. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. II, Wks. (1711) 30 The majesty of a prince hardly falleth from a height to a midst, but easily is precipitated from any midst to the lowest degree and station. 1678 R. Barclay Apol. Quakers vii. §2. 202 They have laboured after a Midst betwixt these two extreams. 1786 A. Gib Sacr. Contempl. I. vii. ii. 158 There can be no proper midst in a Soul, betwixt moral good and evil. |
B. adv.
1. In the middle place. Only in Milton's phrase.
[Prob. to be regarded as a contracted form of middest a. used advb.]
| 1667 Milton P.L. v. 165 On Earth joyn all yee Creatures to extoll Him first, him last, him midst, and without end. 1773 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 426 May God grant you every blessing. Remember Him first, last, and midst. 1854 De Quincey War Wks. 1862 IV. 271 Every nation's duty first, midst, and last, is to itself. |
2. = ‘In the midst’. Const. of. poet. rare.
| 1675 N. Lee Nero iv. i, If I gaze long, I shall my nature lose: Mid'st of my full carreer, I stop and muse. 1883 R. W. Dixon Mano i. vi. 16 And midst there was a goodly chantry seen. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche June v, The grassy plat 'Midst of her garden, where she had her seat. |
C. prep. In the midst of; † between. Commonly written 'midst, as if aphetic for amidst.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. ii. 24, I would ne're haue fled, But that they left me 'midst my Enemies. 1593 ― Lucr. 566 And midst the sentence so her accent breakes, That twise she doth begin ere once she speakes. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 28 From whence a voice From midst a Golden Cloud thus milde was heard. 1682 Creech Lucretius (1683) 77 The peaceful Ox contains most parts of Air, Not subject unto too much Rage, nor Fear, A temper, 'midst the Lion, and the Deer. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 26 And 'midst the desart fruitful fields arise. 1821 Shelley Adonais xxxi, Midst others of less note, came one frail Form, A phantom among men. |