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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.

A person of intermediate rank; a commoner.

Of middle rank, state, size, or quality; about equally distant from the extremes; medium; moderate; mediocre; ordinary. "A town of but middling size." Hallam. Plainly furnished, as beseemed the middling circumstances of its inhabitants. Hawthorne. -- Mid"dling*ly, adv. -- Mid"dling*ness, n.

In the English naval service, the second rank attained by a combatant officer after a term of service as naval cadet. Having served three and a half years in this rank, and passed an examination, he is eligible to promotion to the rank of lieutenant.

ken the force of; to extenuate; to palliate; to tell by degrees, instead of directly and frankly; to clip, as words or expressions; to utter half and keep back half of. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say -- "I love you." Shak. Siren, now mince the sin, And mollify damnation with a phrase. Dryden. I…

A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument. Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. Ex. xxiv. 13. I chose Camillo for the minister, to poison My friend Polixenes. Shak.

h are minor, -- much used for mournful and solemn subjects. -- Minor orders (Eccl.), the rank of persons employed in ecclesiastical offices who are not in holy orders, as doorkeepers, acolytes, etc. -- Minor scale (Mus.) The form of the minor scale is various. The strictly correct form has the third and sixth minor,…

A marriage with a person of inferior rank or social station; an improper alliance; a mesalliance. A Leigh had made a misalliance, and blushed A Howard should know it. Mrs. Browning.

t of examinations for degrees; at Dublin, either the first (senior) or second (junior) in rank in an examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

y again, if its motion be variable; -- called also the efficiency of the machine. Mosley. Rankine. -- Modulus of a system of logarithms (Math.), a number by which all the Napierian logarithms must be multiplied to obtain the logarithms in another system. -- Modulus of elasticity. (a) The measure of the elastic force…

of a ship. -- Monkey shine, monkey trick. [Slang, U.S.] -- Monkey trick, a mischievous prank. Saintsbury. -- Monkey wheel. See Gin block, under 5th Gin. -- Monkey wrench, a wrench or spanner having a movable jaw.

My lord; -- a title in France of a person of high birth or rank; as, Monseigneur the Prince, or Monseigneur the Archibishop. It was given, specifically, to the dauphin, before the Revolution of

ecclesiastical dignity bestowed by the pope, entitling the bearer to social and domestic rank at the papal court. (Abbrev. Mgr.)

ignating, a kind of marriage, called also left-handed marriage, between a man of superior rank and a woman of inferior, in which it is stipulated that neither the latter nor her children shall enjoy the rank or inherit the possessions of her husband. Brande & C. -- Mor`ga*nat"ic*al*ly, adv.

Highest in rank; greatest. [Obs.] Chaucer.

or masses, as in mowing grass; -- with down; as, a discharge of grapeshot mows down whole ranks of men.

High in rank or position. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Having the rank, pungent, offencive odor and taste which substances of organic origin acquire during warm, moist weather; foul or sour and fetid; moldy; as, musty corn; musty books. Harvey.

Having native or unaffected simplicity; ingenuous; artless; frank; as, naïve manners; a naïve person; naïve and unsophisticated remarks.

eputy ruler or viceroy in India; also, a title given by courtesy to other persons of high rank in the East.