midst

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the location of something surrounded by other things

   in the midst of the crowd

2. 2
   noun

   A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.

   Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

3. 3
   prep

   Among, in the middle of; amidst.

   Mildred comes home from work early only to discover her husband, Robert, midst of a lewd affair with their neighbor, Gladys.

Etymology

From Middle English middes, midst, myddest (“middle”), from Old English midde, reshaped in Middle English phrases like in middes (“in the middle”) by analogy with adverbs in -(e)s; also compare Old English on middan, tōmiddes. Forms in -(e)st are probably due to influence of superlatives.