- 1普通的、中等的、馬馬虎虎（帶點「沒什麼了不起」的口氣）；fair to middling = 還好啦、普普通通
In the middle — average in size, quality, or how good someone is at something. It is a slightly old, homey, spoken word, and it almost always carries a small shrug of disappointment. 'A middling student' is not a compliment; 'middling weather' means grey and not very nice; 'his singing was middling' means it was fine and you would not go again. So it is closer to 'so-so' or 'nothing special' than to a neutral 'medium'. There is a very common set phrase, 'fair to middling', which is a friendly answer to 'How are you?' — meaning 'all right, not great', said with a smile, and heard especially from older speakers and in Britain, Ireland and the American South. Middling can also work as an adverb before another describing word ('a middling large town', 'middling good'), but that use is regional and old-fashioned; do not copy it in writing. In business or measurements, use 'medium' or 'average' instead — 'middling' will sound odd in a report, though 'middling quality' is used in some for a real, level of goods.
組成middle (中間) + -ing。先有名詞，後來才變成形容詞，再變成副詞。加了 -ing 之後語氣變得口語、隨意，不像 medium 那麼中性。
同家族的字
- middlethe same 'middle' with -ing added
- middle-agedsame 'middle' — between young and old
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
middlingadj/ˈmɪdlɪŋ/
- 1
Of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre.
- The football team is never the worst or best in its league; its position is always middling.
- […] I cannot think it unreaſonable, […] to imagin the ſame natural cauſes may ſometimes act in t'other extreme likewiſe, and model Humane Bodies from a peculiar Energy in the ſeminal Principles, or a more perfect and through concoction in the Stomach, and other Viſcera, whence may proceed a peculiar and extraordinary nutritive faculty in the humours, for the furthering augmentation; or ſtill from ſome other more latent Spring, or ſecret Influence, to ariſe to ſuch a growth as fully to equal twice the heighth of (what we may then properly call) a middling ſtature, taking the word in the moſt ſtrict ſenſe.
- 2
regionalIn fairly good health.
- I am in a middling Way, between Healthy and Sick, hardly ever without a little Giddineſs or Deafneſs, and ſometimes both: So much for that.
- “And how’s that chest of yours?” demanded Mrs. Morel. / He smiled again, with his blue eyes rather sunny. / “Oh, it’s very middlin’,” he said.
middlingadv/ˈmɪdlɪŋ/
- 1
regionalFairly, moderately, somewhat.
- St. Jerom ſeated, a middling ſized upright plate, from J. Palma, dated 1596. I think this is one of the fineſt prints by this great maſter. The drawing is admirable, and the engraving is executed with the utmoſt freedom.
- Iwami, otherwise Sekisju, is two days journey long, going from ſouth to north, a middling good country, producing plenty of cannib, and affording ſome ſalt.
- 2
regionalNot too badly, with modest success.
middlingnoun/ˈmɪdlɪŋ/
- 1
Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality.
- Middlings are less likely to adopt worker commitment than are Leaders, but the two groups are equally likely to adopt organisational responsibility. […] Middlings have not been able to effectively implement innovative environmental programmes and proactive social programmes.
- 2
Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality.
- The war had been significantly financed by the poor and the middling, who purchased bonds that quickly devalued from wartime inflation; debt speculators had bought much of this debt at a fraction of the original cost.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。