Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Midst?

\Midst\, n. [From middest, in the middest, for older in middes, where -s is adverbial (orig. forming a genitive), or still older a midde, a midden, on midden. See {Mid}, and cf. {Amidst}.] 1. The interior or central part or place; the middle; -- used chiefly in the objective case after in; as, in the midst of the forest. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him. --Luke iv. 35. There is nothing . . . in the midst [of the play] which might not have been placed in the beginning. --Dryden. 2. Hence, figuratively, the condition of being surrounded or beset; the press; the burden; as, in the midst of official duties; in the midst of secular affairs. Note: The expressions in our midst, in their midst, etc., are avoided by some good writers, the forms in the midst of us, in the midst of them, etc., being preferred. Syn: {Midst}, {Middle}. Usage: Midst in present usage commonly denotes a part or place surrounded on enveloped by or among other parts or objects (see {Amidst}); while middle is used of the center of length, or surface, or of a solid, etc. We say in the midst of a thicket; in the middle of a line, or the middle of a room; in the midst of darkness; in the middle of the night.
\Midst\, prep. In the midst of; amidst. --Shak.
\Midst\, adv. In the middle. [R.] --Milton.