Microzoa, mī-krō-zō′ä, n.pl. microscopic animals.—n. and adj. Microzō′an.—n. Microzoā′ria, a name sometimes used for infusorians, &c.—adj. Microzoā′rian.—n. and adj. Microzō′öid, a very minute free-swimming zoöid, which buries itself in the body of a sedentary animalcule.—ns. Microzō′ön, any micro-organism of animal nature; Microzō′öspore, a zoöspore of abnormally small size; Mī′crozyme, a member of a class of extremely minute living organisms floating in the atmosphere, supposed to be the means of communicating certain epidemic and other zymotic diseases. [Gr. mikros, small, zōon, an animal, sporos, seed, zymē, leaven.]
Micturition, mik-tū-rish′un, n. the act of passing, or the frequent desire to pass, urine.—n. Mic′tion, voiding urine.—v.i. Mic′turate. [L. micturīre, -ītum, to pass urine.]
Mid, mid, adj. middle: situated between extremes.—prep. amid.—n. (Shak.) middle.—ns. Mid′-age (Shak.), the middle time of life, a person in middle-life; Mid′-air, Mid′-heav′en, the middle of the sky; Mid′day, the middle of the day: noon.—adj. of or pertaining to noon.—adj. Mid′dest (Spens.), most nearly in the middle: middlemost.—n. the midst, middle.—n. Mid′-hour, the middle part of the day.—adj. Mid′land, in the middle of, or surrounded by, land: distant from the coast: inland.—n. the interior of a country: (pl.) esp. the central parts of England.—n. Mid′-Lent, the middle or fourth Sunday in Lent.—adj. Mid′most, middlemost.—n. Mid′night, the middle of the night: twelve o'clock at night.—adj. being at midnight: dark as midnight.—ns. Mid′noon, noon; Mid′-sea, the open sea.—adj. Mid′ship, being in the middle of a ship.—n. Mid′shipman, in the British navy, an officer whose rank is next above that of a naval cadet: in the U.S. navy, the lowest grade of officers in the line of promotion, now called Naval cadet.—adv. Mid′ships.—ns. Mid′summer, the middle of summer: the summer solstice, about the 21st of June; Mid′summer-day, the 24th of June; Mid′way, the middle of the way or distance.—adj. being in the middle of the way or distance.—adv. half-way.—n. Mid′winter, the middle of winter: the winter solstice (21st or 22d December), or the time shortly before or after it. [A.S. (mid-), middgen; Ger. mitte and mittel, L. medius, Gr. mesos.]
Midas, mī′das, n. a fabulously rich man, from the king of Phrygia who got the power of turning everything he touched into gold, till he was like to be starved. His ears were changed by Apollo to those of an ass for deciding a musical contest in favour of Pan.
Midden, mid′en, n. a heap of ashes or dung (see also Kitchen-midden).—n. Midd′enstead, a place where dung is heaped up. [Scand., as Dan. mödding—mög, dung; cf. Muck.]
Middle, mid′l, adj. equally distant from the extremes: intermediate: intervening: (gram.) intermediate between active and passive, reflexive.—n. the middle point or part: midst: central portion, waist.—adjs. Midd′le-aged, of or about the middle period of life (from about 35 to 50); Midd′le-class, pertaining to, or included in, the middle class.—ns. Midd′le-earth (Shak.), the earth, considered as placed between the upper and lower regions; Midd′leman, one who stands in the middle between two persons: an agent who does business between two parties: in Ireland, one who rents land in large tracts, and lets it in small portions to the peasantry.—adjs. Midd′lemost, Mid′most (B.), nearest the middle; Midd′le-sized, of middle or average size.—ns. Midd′le-watch, the period between midnight and 4 A.M.; Midd′le-weight, a boxer or jockey of intermediate weight, between light and heavy weight.—adj. Midd′ling, of middle rate, state, size, or quality: about equally distant from the extremes: moderate: (Scot.) not in very good health: fairly well or prosperous.—adv. moderately.—n. Midd′lingness, mediocrity.—n.pl. Midd′lings, the coarser part of ground wheat.—Middle Ages, the time between the downfall of the western Roman empire, about 476 A.D., and the Reformation in the first quarter of the 16th century, or even earlier—in the later half of the preceding century, when printing was invented, America discovered, and the revival of learning took place; Middle class, that part of the people which comes between the nobility and the working-class; Middle distance (same as Middle ground); Middle English, English as spoken and written from 1350 to 1500 or 1550; Middle ground, the central portion of a picture—that is, between the foreground and background; Middle Kingdom, China; Middle passage, the voyage across the Atlantic from Africa to the West Indies, which was a time of horror on board a slave-ship; Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware; Middle term (logic), that term of a syllogism which appears both in the major premise and the minor, but not in the conclusion.—Middle-class schools, schools for the higher education of the middle class, intermediate between the primary schools and the large public schools or the universities. [A.S. middel—mid; Dut. middel, Ger. mittel.]
Middy, mid′i, n. for midshipman.
Midgard, mid′gārd, n. (Scand. myth.) the abode of men, midway between heaven and hell. [Ice. midhgardhr=mid-yard.]
Midge, mij, n. the common name of several species of small two-winged insects, like gnats, but with a shorter proboscis.—n. Midg′et, a little midge: something very small of its kind: a very small person. [A.S. micge; Ger. mücke, a gnat.]
Midrash, mid′rash, n. the Hebrew exposition of the Old Testament—its two divisions, Haggada and Halakha:—pl. Midrashim (mid-rä′shēm), commentaries to individual books or sections of the Old Testament. [Heb., 'exposition.']