From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmiddlemid‧dle1 /ˈmɪdl/ ●●● S1 W2 noun 1 → the middle2 → the middle3 → the middle4 body [countable usually singular] the part of your body around your waist and stomachsomebody’s middle He was holding a towel around his middle.5 → be in the middle of (doing) something6 → in the middle of something7 → in the middle of nowhere8 → divide/split something down the middle → piggy in the middle at piggy1(2)
Examples from the Corpus
middle• But by the middle of the night, the alcohol will be metabolized and the rebound effect will set in.• It was very hard work and during the middle we had a water fight.• Time spent in taking stock is time well spent, even in the middle of a hectic day.• The group also is in the middle of a $ 45,000 project to renovate a pagoda in the ancient quarter.• Somewhere in the middle lies the case for change.• I had a spell in the middle of the season when I was useless.• The office block was in the middle of a hellish whirlwind.• Going through the middle of Tokyo in the rush hour can be a nightmare.• "Did you enjoy the movie?" "It was OK but I got a little bored towards the middle."• Gary rowed out towards the middle of the lake.• The state built 10 prisons from the opening of San Quentin in 1852 until the middle of the last decade.• It was the middle of summer.middlemiddle2 ●●● S1 W2 adjective [only before noun] 1 MIDDLEcentre nearest the centre and furthest from the edge, top, end etc driving in the middle lane of the motorway the middle drawer of the filing cabinet2 TIME/AT A PARTICULAR TIMEtime/event half of the way through an event or period of time They spent the middle part of their vacation in Florida. the middle part of the day3 scale/range between two extreme levels or positions, for example between the best and worst, the biggest and smallest etc a car in the middle price range the middle ranks of the army a middle-income family4 → in your middle twenties/thirties etc5 → middle brother/child/daughter etc6 → middle course/way etc7 → Middle English/French etcExamples from the Corpus
middle• Life expectancy for all patients is middle age, and heart failure is the leading cause of death.• Secondly, she never lived to middle age.• A white carpet ran down the middle aisle of the church.• The middle assassin fired even as she dropped.• Instead, it was a real middle class, of diverse origins, pushed to the fore by changing conditions.• You'll find the scissors in the middle drawer of my desk.• It's in the middle drawer of the file cabinet.• Jane was wearing a gold ring on her middle finger.• The constituency's middle ground is a mess.• We also recruit some assistant food and beverage managers with experience directly into middle management positions.• In the organizational hierarchy of the past, middle managers were the people who remembered things, who passed on corporate culture.• There were three of children in my family, and I was the middle one.• I missed the middle part of the movie.Origin middle2 Old English middel 