Middle English Dictionary Entry
mid-mē̆st(e adj. & n.
Entry Info
| Forms | mid-mē̆st(e adj. & n. Also -most, -mast, midemeste, -mist, middemost, -miste. |
| Etymology | OE mid-mesta, sup. of mid adj.; also cp. mǣst, māst, sup. of micel adj. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Middle as to position in space; also, as noun: the middle one; (b) intermediate as to age; also, as noun; (c) the middle one as to quality or merit.
Associated quotations
a
- ?a1200(?OE) PDidax.(Hrl 6258b)27/5 : Þanne sceal hym man læten blod on þan earme on þan middemyste ædra.
- a1325 SLeg.Mich.(Corp-C 145)311 : Ech of is fingres haþ a name..Longe man hadde þe middemost [Ld: midleste], for lengost he is.
- a1400 Cursor (Trin-C R.3.8)10023 : Þe midmast [Ld: mydmest] bailly of þe þre Bitokeneþ wel hir chastite; þe ouermast..May bitoken hir spousaile.
b
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)685 : Þre doȝtren þe king adde: þe eldost het gornorille, Þe midmeste [vr. mydmost; B: midemeste; vr. mydemyst] het regan, þe ȝongeste cordeille.
- c1425 Liber de Hyda in RS 4568 : To my ilderyst dowthter, I grawnt the twune of Welewe; and to the mydmest dowther, I graunte the twune of Klere.
c
- a1525 Conq.Irel.(Dub 592)146/28 : The yonge prynce..hadde wyth hym..Normannes, Englysshe, & þe Englysshe that he found yn the lond. In wyrshype, gret frenshype, & loue he hold the fyrst & the worst; In lasse, the mydmest & the better; In allerleste, the latest & þe beste.
2.
The middle part of a book.
Associated quotations
- (c1384) WBible(1) Prol.Mat.(Dc 369(2))4.1 : In the whiche gospel it is profitable to men desyrynge God, so to knowe the first, the mydmeste, other the last, that thei, redynge bi alle thingis, vndirstonde bothe the clepynge of the apostil and the work of the gospel and the loue of God kennynge in fleshe.