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.


 Pas·sage n.
 1. The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, over, across, or through; as, the passage of a man or a carriage; the passage of a ship or a bird; the passage of light; the passage of fluids through the pores or channels of the body.
    What! are my doors opposed against my passage!   --Shak.
 2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.
    The ship in which he had taken passage.   --Macaulay.
 3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's passage.
 4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.] “Endure thy mortal passage.”
    When he is fit and season'd for his passage.   --Shak.
 5. Way; road; path; channel or course through or by which one passes; way of exit or entrance; way of access or transit. Hence, a common avenue to various apartments in a building; a hall; a corridor.
 And with his pointed dart
 Explores the nearest passage to his heart.   --Dryden.
    The Persian army had advanced into the . . . passages of Cilicia.   --South.
 6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series; as, the passage of time.
    The conduct and passage of affairs.   --Sir J. Davies.
    The passage and whole carriage of this action.   --Shak.
 7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. “In thy passages of life.”
    The . . . almost incredible passage of their unbelief.   --South.
 8. A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.
    How commentators each dark passage shun.   --Young.
 9. Reception; currency. [Obs.]
 10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.
 No passages of love
 Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.   --Tennyson.
 11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
 12. In parliamentary proceedings: (a) The course of a proposition (bill, resolution, etc.) through the several stages of consideration and action; as, during its passage through Congress the bill was amended in both Houses. (b) The advancement of a bill or other proposition from one stage to another by an affirmative vote; esp., the final affirmative action of the body upon a proposition; hence, adoption; enactment; as, the passage of the bill to its third reading was delayed. “The passage of the Stamp Act.”
    The final question was then put upon its passage.   --Cushing.
 In passage, in passing; cursorily. “These . . . have been studied but in passage.” --Bacon.
 Middle passage, Northeast passage, Northwest passage. See under Middle, Northeast, etc.
 Of passage, passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; -- said especially of birds. “Birds of passage.” --Longfellow.
 Passage hawk, a hawk taken on its passage or migration.
 Passage money, money paid for conveyance of a passenger, -- usually for carrying passengers by water.
 Syn: -- Vestibule; hall; corridor. See Vestibule.

 ◄ ►