Mid·dle a.
 1. Equally distant from the extreme either of a number of things or of one thing; mean; medial; as, the middle house in a row; a middle rank or station in life; flowers of middle summer; men of middle age.
 2. Intermediate; intervening.
    Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends.   --Sir J. Davies.
 Note: ☞ Middle is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, middle-sized, middle-witted.
 Middle Ages, the period of time intervening between the decline of the Roman Empire and the revival of letters.  Hallam regards it as beginning with the sixth and ending with the fifteenth century.
 Middle class, in England, people who have an intermediate position between the aristocracy and the artisan class. It includes professional men, bankers, merchants, and small landed proprietors
    The middle-class electorate of Great Britain.   --M. Arnold.
 -- Middle distance. Paint. See Middle-ground.
 Middle English. See English, n., 2.
 Middle Kingdom, China.
 Middle oil Chem., that part of the distillate obtained from coal tar which passes over between 170° and 230° Centigrade; -- distinguished from the light oil, and the heavy oil or dead oil.
 Middle passage, in the slave trade, that part of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the West Indies.
 Middle post. Arch. Same as King-post.
 Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; which, at the time of the formation of the Union, occupied a middle position between the Eastern States (or New England) and the Southern States. [U.S.]
 Middle term Logic, that term of a syllogism with which the two extremes are separately compared, and by means of which they are brought together in the conclusion. --Brande.
 Middle tint Paint., a subdued or neutral tint. --Fairholt.
 Middle voice. Gram. See under Voice.
 Middle watch, the period from midnight to four a. m.; also, the men on watch during that time. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
 Middle weight, a pugilist, boxer, or wrestler classed as of medium weight, i. e., over 140 and not over 160 lbs., in distinction from those classed as light weights, heavy weights, etc.


 Sec·ond a.
 1. Immediately following the first; next to the first in order of place or time; hence, occurring again; another; other.
    And he slept and dreamed the second time.   --Gen. xli. 5.
 2. Next to the first in value, power, excellence, dignity, or rank; secondary; subordinate; inferior.
    May the day when we become the second people upon earth . . . be the day of our utter extirpation.   --Landor.
 3. Being of the same kind as another that has preceded; another, like a prototype; as, a second Cato; a second Troy; a second deluge.
    A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!   --Shak.
 Second Adventist. See Adventist.
 Second cousin, the child of a cousin.
 Second-cut file. See under File.
 Second distance Art, that part of a picture between the foreground and the background; -- called also middle ground, or middle distance. [R.]
 Second estate Eng., the House of Peers.
 Second girl, a female house-servant who does the lighter work, as chamber work or waiting on table.
 Second intention. See under Intention.
 Second story, Second floor, in America, the second range of rooms from the street level. This, in England, is called the first floor, the one beneath being the ground floor.
 Second thought or Second thoughts, consideration of a matter following a first impulse or impression; reconsideration.
    On second thoughts, gentlemen, I don't wish you had known him.   --Dickens.


 Dis·tance n.
 1. The space between two objects; the length of a line, especially the shortest line joining two points or things that are separate; measure of separation in place.
    Every particle attracts every other with a force . . . inversely proportioned to the square of the distance.   --Sir I. Newton.
 2. Remoteness of place; a remote place.
    Easily managed from a distance.   --W. Irving.
    'T is distance lends enchantment to the view.   --T. Campbell.
    [He] waits at distance till he hears from Cato.   --Addison.
 3. Racing A space marked out in the last part of a race course.
    The horse that ran the whole field out of distance.   --L'Estrange.
 Note: ☞ In trotting matches under the rules of the American Association, the distance varies with the conditions of the race, being 80 yards in races of mile heats, best two in three, and 150 yards in races of two-mile heats. At that distance from the winning post is placed the distance post. If any horse has not reached this distance post before the first horse in that heat has reached the winning post, such horse is distanced, and disqualified for running again during that race.
 4. Mil. Relative space, between troops in ranks, measured from front to rear; -- contrasted with interval, which is measured from right to left. “Distance between companies in close column is twelve yards.”
 5. Space between two antagonists in fencing.
 6. Painting The part of a picture which contains the representation of those objects which are the farthest away, esp. in a landscape.
 Note: ☞ In a picture, the Middle distance is the central portion between the foreground and the distance or the extreme distance. In a perspective drawing, the Point of distance is the point where the visual rays meet.
 7. Ideal disjunction; discrepancy; contrariety.
 8. Length or interval of time; period, past or future, between two eras or events.
    Ten years' distance between one and the other.   --Prior.
    The writings of Euclid at the distance of two thousand years.   --Playfair.
 9. The remoteness or reserve which respect requires; hence, respect; ceremoniousness.
 I hope your modesty
 Will know what distance to the crown is due.   --Dryden.
    'T is by respect and distance that authority is upheld.   --Atterbury.
 10. A withholding of intimacy; alienation; coldness; disagreement; variance; restraint; reserve.
    Setting them [factions] at distance, or at least distrust amongst themselves.   --Bacon.
 On the part of Heaven,
 Now alienated, distance and distaste.   --Milton.
 11. Remoteness in succession or relation; as, the distance between a descendant and his ancestor.
 12. Mus. The interval between two notes; as, the distance of a fourth or seventh.
 Angular distance, the distance made at the eye by lines drawn from the eye to two objects.
 Lunar distance. See under Lunar.
 North polar distance Astron., the distance on the heavens of a heavenly body from the north pole. It is the complement of the declination.
 Zenith distance Astron., the arc on the heavens from a heavenly body to the zenith of the observer. It is the complement of the altitude.
 To keep one's distance, to stand aloof; to refrain from familiarity.
    If a man makes me keep my distance, the comfort is he keeps his at the same time.   --Swift.


 middle distance
      n : the part of a scene between the foreground and the
          background