Middle Eastn.
/ˌmɪdl ˈiːst/, U.S. /ˌmɪd(ə)l ˈist/ An extensive area of south-west Asia and northern Africa, now esp. the area extending from Egypt to Iran. Also (esp. in early use): India and adjacent countries; an area perceived as lying between the Near East and the Far East.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Near East, Middle East, and Asia Minor > [noun] > Middle East
Arab world1820
Mideast1865
Middle East1876
1876 Zion's Herald 11 May 146/1 Those nations of the middle East [i.e. Mesopotamia], formerly so little known to us, have come to be best known of any in those primitive ages.
1897 Catholic World Feb. 700 The temptation to follow the wanderings of the genius of building back to its immemorial source in the middle East and the mystic Egypt has been resisted.
1900 19th Cent. Mar. 413 The most sensitive part of our external policy in the Middle East is the preservation of the independence and integrity of Persia and Afghanistan.
1903 V. Chirol Middle Eastern Question i. 5 ‘The Middle East’, that is to say..those regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India.
1925 A. Toynbee Surv. Internat. Affairs 1920–23 i. i. 3 The affairs of Turkey and the other countries of the Middle East.
1958 Ld. Vansittart Mist Procession vi. 82 We had [in 1909] none of the sloppy modernism which lumps everything from the Mediterranean to Bengal as Middle East... Persia, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, India were the Middle East.
1988 Daily Tel. 14 Apr. 12 Potentates in the Near East (not ‘Middle East’, please—that's India) did indeed keep elephants.
1991 Guardian 1 Nov. 10/1 No venue had been fixed yesterday for the crucial stage of separate bilateral talks between Israel and the Arab parties to the Middle East peace process.
Compounds
Middle East respiratory syndrome n. an acute infectious disease caused by a coronavirus, usually presenting with fever and cough, and in a significant proportion of cases progressing to pneumonia, respiratory and renal failure, and death. Also as a modifier, designating the coronavirus that causes the disease. Cf. MERS n.2First recognized as an outbreak that began in the Middle East in 2012.The coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome is believed to have originated in bats and to be transmitted to humans from dromedary camels. Cases continue to occur, mainly among individuals in contact with camels and health-care workers treating such individuals, and the overall case fatality rate is estimated to be around 35%.
ΚΠ
2013 www.science.mag.org 6 May (accessed 28 May 2020) In a move that may end more than 7 months of confusion, an international group of scientists and public health officials will soon recommend that the new virus be called Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
2013 Orange County (Calif.) Reg. 12 May (Local section) 16/2 The viral strain causes what is now being called MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
2015 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 June Korean scientists have said that the virus causing the severe outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in their country has not undergone significant mutation.
2020 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 29 May Super spreading also played important roles in outbreaks of two other coronaviruses, which caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1876