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 Middle Ages
 中世紀

 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.

 Dark a.
 1. Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion.
 O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
 Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse
 Without all hope of day!   --Milton.
    In the dark and silent grave.   --Sir W. Raleigh.
 2. Not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.
    The dark problems of existence.   --Shairp.
    What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain.   --Hooker.
    What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?   --Shak.
 3. Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant.
 The age wherein he lived was dark, but he
 Could not want light who taught the world to see.   --Denhan.
    The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night.   --Hallam.
 4. Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed.
    Left him at large to his own dark designs.   --Milton.
 5. Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious.
    More dark and dark our woes.   --Shak.
    A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature.   --Macaulay.
    There is, in every true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.   --W. Irving.
 6. Deprived of sight; blind. [Obs.]
    He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years.   --Evelyn.
 Note: ☞ Dark is sometimes used to qualify another adjective; as, dark blue, dark green, and sometimes it forms the first part of a compound; as, dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-colored, dark-seated, dark-working.
 A dark horse, in racing or politics, a horse or a candidate whose chances of success are not known, and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of general comment or of wagers. [Colloq.]
 Dark house, Dark room, a house or room in which madmen were confined. [Obs.] --Shak.
 Dark lantern. See Lantern. -- The Dark Ages, a period of stagnation and obscurity in literature and art, lasting, according to Hallam, nearly 1000 years, from about 500 to about 1500 A. D.. See Middle Ages, under Middle.
 The Dark and Bloody Ground, a phrase applied to the State of Kentucky, and said to be the significance of its name, in allusion to the frequent wars that were waged there between Indians.
 The dark day, a day (May 19, 1780) when a remarkable and unexplained darkness extended over all New England.
 To keep dark, to reveal nothing. [Low]

 Middle Ages
      n : the period of history between classical antiquity and the
          Italian Renaissance [syn: Dark Ages]