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A comma. [R.] In the MSS. of Chaucer, the line is always broken by a cæsura in the middle, which is pointed by a virgule. Hallam.

imited to their thin edges in the upper part, which are then presented to each other. -- Middle voice (Gram.), that form of the verb by which its subject is represented as both the agent, or doer, and the object of the action, that is, as performing some act to or upon himself, or for his own advantage. -- Passive vo…

A knot, or stop, in the middle of a flag. [Written also wheft.]

Hence, the middle part of other bodies; especially (Naut.), that part of a vessel's deck, bulwarks, etc., which is between the quarter-deck and the forecastle; the middle part of the ship.

Having a tail which has the middle pair of feathers longest, the rest successively and decidedly shorter, and all more or less attenuate; -- said of certain birds. See Illust. of Wood hoopoe, under Wood. Wedge-tailed eagle, an Australian eagle (Aquila audax) which feeds on various small species of kangaroos, and on lam…

An inclosure in the middle of a vessel's hold, around the pumps, from the bottom to the lower deck, to preserve the pumps from damage and facilitate their inspection.

oxer or wrestler whose weight is intermediate between that of a lightweight and that of a middleweight.

The middle subdivision of the Upper Silurian in Great Britain; -- so named from the typical locality in Shropshire.

black wings and a black stripe through each eye. The tail is black at the tip and in the middle, but white at the base and on each side. Called also checkbird, chickell, dykehopper, fallow chat, fallow finch, stonechat, and whitetail.

om for retirement from another room, as from a dining room; a drawing-room. A door in the middle leading to a parlor and withdrawing-room. Sir W. Scott.

In the Middle Ages, a room in a monastery for the reception and entertainment of strangers and pilgrims, and for the relief of paupers. [Called also Xenodocheion.]

prefix (see Y-), is usually a fricative vocal consonant; as a prefix, and usually in the middle or at the end of a syllable, it is a vowel. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 145, 178-9, 272.

ure meaning, originally used with verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and pronouns. In the Middle English period, it was little employed except with verbs, being chiefly used with past participles, though occasionally with the infinitive Ycleped, or yclept, is perhaps the only word not entirely obsolete which shows this…

A language used by German and other Jews, being a Middle German dialect developed under Hebrew and Slavic influence. It is written in Hebrew characters.

An imaginary belt in the heavens, 16º or 18º broad, in the middle of which is the ecliptic, or sun's path. It comprises the twelve constellations, which one constituted, and from which were named, the twelve signs of the zodiac.