mid

¹

[ mid ]

adjective

1. being at or near the middle point of:

   We visited in mid autumn to catch the leaves at their best.

   The group was active in the mid 1890s.

2. being or occupying a middle place or position:

   These socks hit at the mid calf, making them good for wearing with boots.

   The bark mid trunk has been eaten away by insects.

3. Phonetics. (of a vowel) articulated with an opening above the tongue relatively intermediate between those for high and low: the vowels of beet, bet, and bot are respectively high, mid, and low. Compare high ( def 23 ), low ¹( def 30 ).
4. Slang. mediocre, unimpressive, or disappointing:

   Everyone thinks that show is so great, but I've always thought it was mid.

   The shoes are really mid but the shirt is cute.

noun

1. Archaic. the middle.

mid

²

or 'mid

[ mid ]

preposition

1. amid.

mid

³

[ mid ]

noun

, Informal.

1. a midshipman.

mid-

⁴

1. a combining form representing mid1 in compound words:

   midday; mid-Victorian.

mid.

⁵

abbreviation for

1. middle.

Mid.

⁶

abbreviation for

1. Midshipman.

M.I.D.

⁷

abbreviation for

1. Master of Industrial Design.

mid.

¹

abbreviation for

1. middle

mid

²

/ mɪd /

preposition

1. a poetic word for amid

mid

³

/ mɪd /

adjective

1. phonetics of, relating to, or denoting a vowel whose articulation lies approximately halfway between high and low, such as e in English bet

noun

1. an archaic word for middle

mid-

⁴

combining_form

1. indicating a middle part, point, time, or position

   mid-April

   midday

   mid-Victorian

Mid.

⁵

abbreviation for

1. Midshipman

Word History and Origins

Origin of mid¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English midd- (both an adjective and the initial element of a compound; modern spellings such as mid autumn are probably a reanalysis of the combining form mid- as an adjective); cognate with Old High German mitti, Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis; akin to Greek mésos, méssos, méttos, Latin medius, Old Church Slavonic mežda “limit, border,” Old Irish mide, Sanskrit madhya “middle”; mid-

Origin of mid²

By shortening

Origin of mid³

Middle English, Old English; mid ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of mid¹

C12 midre (inflected form of midd, unattested); related to Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis

Origin of mid²

Old English; see middle , mid ¹

Example Sentences

She regularly posted online about its success, claiming she had run 2,000 coaching sessions for children across south, mid and north Wales, Cheltenham and Bristol.

From BBC

Back in the mid 2000s, just after the ban, Mr John was leader of the Carmarthenshire Hunt in rural west Wales.

From BBC

Snow left one road impassable and collisions on two others roads, with schools across mid and north-east Wales shut on Tuesday morning.

From BBC

By the mid '80s he was believed to be the most prolific high-grade hashish smuggler in the business, importing thousands of tonnes of cannabis into the UK and US.

From BBC

"From about the mid 20s right the way through to the early 70s, Morris was regarded as being exclusively male," he says.

From BBC

Related Words

• average
• boring
• dull
• mediocre
• middling