- Midst
- Midst Midst, n. [From middest, in the middest, for older in
middes, where -s is adverbial (orig. forming a genitive), or
still older a midde, a midden, on midden. See {Mid}, and cf.
{Amidst}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The interior or central part or place; the middle; -- used
chiefly in the objective case after in; as, in the midst
of the forest.
[1913 Webster]
And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him. --Luke iv. 35. [1913 Webster]
There is nothing . . . in the midst [of the play] which might not have been placed in the beginning. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
2. Hence, figuratively, the condition of being surrounded or beset; the press; the burden; as, in the midst of official duties; in the midst of secular affairs. [1913 Webster]
Note: The expressions in our midst, in their midst, etc., are avoided by some good writers, the forms in the midst of us, in the midst of them, etc., being preferred. [1913 Webster]
Syn: {Midst}, {Middle}.
Usage: Midst in present usage commonly denotes a part or place surrounded on enveloped by or among other parts or objects (see {Amidst}); while middle is used of the center of length, or surface, or of a solid, etc. We say in the midst of a thicket; in the middle of a line, or the middle of a room; in the midst of darkness; in the middle of the night. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
