midst

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The middle of a group, place, or situation; surrounded by it.

   She felt completely alone in the midst of the noisy crowd.

2. 2
   prep

   In the middle of; among.

   They kept working calmly midst all the confusion around them.

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.

Topics