Midst \Midst\, n. [From middest, in the middest, for older in
middes, where -s is adverbial (orig. forming a genitive), or
still older a midde, a midden, on midden. See Mid, and cf.
Amidst.]
1. The interior or central part or place; the middle; -- used
chiefly in the objective case after in; as, in the midst
of the forest.
And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he
came out of him. --Luke iv. 35.
There is nothing . . . in the midst [of the play]
which might not have been placed in the beginning.
--Dryden.
2. Hence, figuratively, the condition of being surrounded or
beset; the press; the burden; as, in the midst of official
duties; in the midst of secular affairs.
Note: The expressions in our midst, in their midst, etc., are
avoided by some good writers, the forms in the midst of
us, in the midst of them, etc., being preferred.
Syn: Midst, Middle.
Usage: Midst in present usage commonly denotes a part or
place surrounded on enveloped by or among other parts
or objects (see Amidst); while middle is used of the
center of length, or surface, or of a solid, etc. We
say in the midst of a thicket; in the middle of a
line, or the middle of a room; in the midst of
darkness; in the middle of the night.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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