midst

See also:'midst

English

Alternative forms

• midest,middest,middis,middst,myddest,mydest,myddis,myddst,mydst(all obsolete)

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishmiddes,midst,myddest(“middle”),fromOld Englishmidde,reshaped in Middle English phrases likein middes(“in the middle”)by analogy with adverbs in-(e)s;also compare Old Englishon middan,tōmiddes.Forms in-(e)stare probably due to influence of superlatives.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/mɪdst/,[mɪdst],[mɪtst]

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɪdst

Noun

midst(pluralmidsts)

1. (oftenliterary)A place in themiddleof something;may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.
   • 1904–1905,Baroness Orczy [i.e.,Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”,inThe Case of Miss Elliott,London:T[homas] Fisher Unwin,published1905,→OCLC;republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909,OCLC11192831,quoted inThe Case of Miss Elliott(ebook no. 2000141h.html),Australia:Project Gutenberg of Australia,February 2020:

     Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in themidstof a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

   • 1995,Mary Ellen Pitts,Toward a Dialogue of Understandings: Loren Eiseley and the Critique of Science,page225:

     At dawn, in themidstof a mist that is both literal and the unformed shifting of thought, he encounters a young fox pup playfully shaking a bone.

   • 2002,Nathan W. Schlueter, quotingMartin Luther King, Jr.,I Have a Dream,1963, speech, quoted inOne Dream Or Two?: Justice in America and in the Thought of Martin Luther King, Jr.,page89:

     As he said in "I Have a Dream," the Negro "lives on a lonely island of poverty in themidstof a vast ocean of material prosperity. "

Synonyms

• centre,center,middle

Translations

place in the middle of something

• Armenian:մեջտեղ(hy)(meǰteġ)
• Bulgarian:среда(bg)f(sreda)
• Egyptian:(qꜣb)
• Finnish:keskus(fi),keskusta(fi),sisin(fi),ydin(fi)
• French:centre(fr),milieu(fr)
• German:Mitten(de)fpl,Mitte(de)f
• Gothic:𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌰f(miduma)
• Ottoman Turkish:مركز(merkez)
• Sicilian:menzu(scn)m,centru(scn)m
• Spanish:centro(es)
• Ukrainian:середина(uk)f(seredyna)

Preposition

midst

1. (rare)Among,in the middle of;amidst.

   Mildred comes home from work early only to discover her husband, Robert,midstof alewdaffairwith their neighbor, Gladys.

   • 1594,William Shakespeare,Lucrece(First Quarto), London:[…]Richard Field,for Iohn Harrison,[…],→OCLC:

     She puts the period often from his place; And 'midstthe sentence so her accent breaks

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, seeCitations:midst.

Synonyms

• amid
• amidst

Derived terms

• in the midst of
• in one's midst

Translations

in the middle of

• Arabic:فِي مُنْتَصَف(fī muntaṣaf),وَسْطَ(wasṭa)

  Egyptian Arabic:في نص(fi noṣṣ)

• Bulgarian:сред(bg)(sred)
• Finnish:keskellä(fi)
• German:inmitten(de)
• Russian:среди́(ru)(sredí)
• Ukrainian:серед(sered)

Anagrams

• DTIMs,MSTID,Smidt