- the middle[singular] the part of something that is at an equal distance from all its edges or sides; a point or a period of time between the beginning and the end of something
- in the middle a lake with an island in the middle
- This chicken isn't cooked in the middle.
- in the middle of something Her car was stuck in the middle of the road.
- The phone rang in the middle of the night.
- You can’t leave in the middle of the meeting!
- His picture was right/bang (= exactly) in the middle of the front page.
- I have a pain in the middle of my back.
- Low temperatures in the middle of winter can kill some trees.
- down the middle Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle.
- by the middle of something I should have finished by the middle of the week.
- I like a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.
Extra Examples- He was standing in the middle of the room.
- I was born in the middle of the war.
- It hit him bang in the middle of his forehead.
- Let's wait until the middle of April.
- They stood in the middle of the field.
- We moved to the middle of London.
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- [countable, usually singular] (informal) a person’s waist
- He grabbed her around the middle.
- I’ve put on weight around the middle.
- The work features a stuffed goat with a rubber tyre around its middle.
Word OriginOld English middel, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch middel and German Mittel.
Idioms
See middle in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybe/get caught in the middle
- to be involved in an argument or fight between two other people or groups
- When they quarrel, I am often caught in the middle.
be in the middle of something/of doing something
- to be busy doing something
- They were in the middle of dinner when I called.
- I'm in the middle of writing a difficult letter.
the middle of nowhere
- (informal) a place that is a long way from other buildings, towns, etc.
- She lives on a small farm in the middle of nowhere.
split/divide (something) down the middle
- to divide something into two equal parts; to divide into two equal parts
- The country was split down the middle over the strike (= half supported it, half did not).
- Divide the cake down the middle.
- It would seem the community has divided down the middle, with some favouring expansion and some dead set against it.
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middle