| 释义 |
midst, n., adv., and prep.|mɪdst|
Forms: 5 medeste, 5–7 myddest, 5–8 (9 arch. rare) middest, 6 middeste, mydst, 7 middst, midd'st, midest, 8 mid'st, 6– midst.
[First appears in the 15th c. as middest. Prob. two different formations have been confused: (1) an extended form of middes, mids, with the excrescent (euphonic or analogical) t as in amongst, against, whilst, and the dialectal onst for once, nice't (naɪst) for nice; (2) an absolute use of the superlative middest a.]
A. n.
1. The middle point or part; the centre, middle. Obs. or arch.
a1400–50Alexander 5396 He saȝe a dym cloude Full of starand sternes and stiȝtild in þe myddest A grete grysely god. c1440Alphabet of Tales 455 He was at þe myddest of þe brygg. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn liv. 208 Subbion in the middest, and Blanchardine the hindmost. 1517Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 214 King James..about the middest of march tooke his p'gresse towards Scotland. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 197 Hee died before he had brought the worke to the midst. 1588Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 250 Ierusalem..is in the midst of our Hemysphere. 1592Timme Ten Eng. Lepers F j, I will but touch three parts: to wit, the beginning, the middest, and the end. 1654Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Wars Flanders 210 About the midst of January. a1661Fuller Worthies, Shropsh. (1662) iii. 1 This Shire being almost in the middest of England. 1671H. M. Erasm. Colloq. 319 If thou open the black stone Cyamea, thou shalt find a bean in the midst. 1695Dryden Dufresnoy's Art Painting Pref. 44 One Play..where there is nothing in the First Act, but what might have been said or done in the Fifth; nor any thing in the Midst, which might not have been plac'd as well in the Beginning or the End. a1894Stevenson Tales and Fantasies, J. Nicholson (1905) 76 He was not past the midst of the first field.
2. The position of being in the interior of, involved or enveloped in, or surrounded by (something, or a number of things or persons, specified or implied). Now almost exclusively in the phrase in the midst of (formerly also † among the midst of), chiefly in the senses: Among, amid, surrounded by (a number of things or persons); while fully engaged with, ‘in the thick of’ (occupations, troubles, etc.); during the continuance of (an action or condition).
a1500Chester Pl., Salut. & Nativ. (Shaks. Soc. 1843) 113 And one his breste written also The landes naimes and goodes bouth too, And sette also in the medeste [E.E.T.S. ed. p. 127, myddes] of thoe, God of Rome righte as a kinge. 1535Coverdale Luke iv. 35 And the deuell threw him in the myddest [1611 middes] amonge them. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Burial of Dead, In the myddest of lyfe we be in death. 1558Knox First Blast (Arb.) 12 A woman sitteth crowned in parliament amongest the middest of men. a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 58 While you were in the middest of your sport. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxxii. 109 In the midest of the battell. 1611Bible Deut. iv. 12 And the Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire. 1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 270 In the middest of all this hurley burley. 1632Sanderson Serm. 315 To plucke thee out of the middest of a froward and crooked generation. a1658Cleveland Rustick Rampant Wks. (1687) 445 Made his Way with his Sword alone..into the middest of their Troops. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 153 ⁋6 In the midst of an adventure. 1818Shelley Rosal. & Helen 860 In the midst of a city vast and wide. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 289 Armies..were kept up in the midst of peace. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola ii. i, From the midst of those smiling heavens he had seen a sword hanging. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid iii. 104 Crete, in the midst of the waters lies. Mod. In the midst of his enormous labours, he has found time to [etc.].
†b. to leave in the midst [= L. in medio relinquere]: to leave undecided, abstain from giving an opinion on.
1625Gill Sacr. Philos. i. 107, I leave it in the middest, till further proofe of the truth be made.
c. With a possessive, usually of plural pronoun, (in) our midst, your midst, their midst.
This use is scarcely found before the 19th century; the solitary example from the 16th c. does not prove that it was current. Cf. ‘in her middes’ (= in their midst) Apol. Loll. (c 1400) 12.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxxxv. iv, Not so his dreadfull showes he ceas'd, But did them still in ægipts mid'st renew. 1794C. John in Southey Life A. Bell (1844) I. 205 If we then could have had our dear Dr. Bell in our midst, our pleasures and improvements would have been greatly heightened. 1825J. Montgomery in Chr. Psalmist (1828) 414 Lo, in their midst his form was seen, The form in which He died. 1864Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xi. (1866) 200 When..his shield [should] be hung aloft again as of old in the camp's midst, a sign of help to the poor and the oppressed. 1867W. L. Newman in Quest. Reformed Parl. 119 Her vast and available coalfields, her iron mines, the energy of her people, founded cities in her midst. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 133 The enduring light that broke out in their midst.
d. With omission of article, in midst (of). Now only poet. (rare).
1590Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 5 In middest of the race. Ibid. i. ix. 10, I ever..ioyde to stirre up strife, In middest of their mournfull Tragedy. a1617Bayne On Eph. (1643) 114 To reckon him in middest of his dearest favorites. 1617Janua Ling. Advt., That should haue brought thee in midst a faire orchyard. 1861Lytton & Fane Tannhäuser 112 In midst, His worn cheek channell'd with unwonted tears, The Landgrave. 1880Watson Prince's Quest 63 There towered In middest of that silent realm deflowered A palace.
¶ poet. with transposition of possessive adj.
1671Milton Samson 1339 And in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief To shew them feats.
†3. A medium, middle course or term, mean. Sc. Obs. Cf. mids.
c1610Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1735) 19 Rather following the Extremity than the right Midst. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. II, Wks. (1711) 30 The majesty of a prince hardly falleth from a height to a midst, but easily is precipitated from any midst to the lowest degree and station. 1678R. Barclay Apol. Quakers vii. §2. 202 They have laboured after a Midst betwixt these two extreams. 1786A. Gib Sacr. Contempl. I. vii. ii. 158 There can be no proper midst in a Soul, betwixt moral good and evil.
B. adv.
1. In the middle place. Only in Milton's phrase.[Prob. to be regarded as a contracted form of middest a. used advb.] 1667Milton P.L. v. 165 On Earth joyn all yee Creatures to extoll Him first, him last, him midst, and without end. 1773Burke Corr. (1844) I. 426 May God grant you every blessing. Remember Him first, last, and midst. 1854De Quincey War Wks. 1862 IV. 271 Every nation's duty first, midst, and last, is to itself.
2. = ‘In the midst’. Const. of. poet. rare.
1675N. Lee Nero iv. i, If I gaze long, I shall my nature lose: Mid'st of my full carreer, I stop and muse. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. vi. 16 And midst there was a goodly chantry seen. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche June v, The grassy plat 'Midst of her garden, where she had her seat.
C. prep. In the midst of; † between. Commonly written 'midst, as if aphetic for amidst.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. ii. 24, I would ne're haue fled, But that they left me 'midst my Enemies. 1593― Lucr. 566 And midst the sentence so her accent breakes, That twise she doth begin ere once she speakes. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 28 From whence a voice From midst a Golden Cloud thus milde was heard. 1682Creech Lucretius (1683) 77 The peaceful Ox contains most parts of Air, Not subject unto too much Rage, nor Fear, A temper, 'midst the Lion, and the Deer. 1704Pope Windsor For. 26 And 'midst the desart fruitful fields arise. 1821Shelley Adonais xxxi, Midst others of less note, came one frail Form, A phantom among men. |