"middle order" - Word of the Day from the OED

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middle order, n.

DRAFT ENTRY June 2010

Brit. /mdl d/, U.S. /md()l rdr/  [< MIDDLE adj. + ORDER n.] 

    1. A middle rank or class.

1625 K. LONG tr. J. Barclay Argenis I. xiii. 35 There is a middle order of wise men, and fit for employment, (as Gentry is in honour) which yet reach not to that height wee now speake of. 1682 J. NORRIS tr. Hierocles Golden Verses 59 Divine good is laid up for those who rise up to the highest degree of Vertue, and humane good for those of the middle order 1766 O. GOLDSMITH Vicar of Wakefield I. xix. 204 In this middle order of mankind are generally to be found all the arts, wisdom, and virtues of society. 1823 H. RAVELIN Lucubrations 317 By all classes of society, and by the middle orders in particular. 1984 Amer. Hist. Rev. 89 1096/2 Swedish demographic units broken down into middle-order units, not so big as provinces but not so small as parishes. 1995 19th-Century Lit. 50 194 It is characteristic of the moral middle order..to be fond of ‘naked truths’.

    2. Cricket. The part of the batting order (usually consisting of the third to eighth batsmen) between the openers and the tail-enders.

1961 Times 11 May 4/13 A hard-hitting middle-order batsman. 1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 35/1 It was only towards the end of the competition that the places of an opening partner for Greenidge and in the middle order were determined. 1994 Daily Mail 29 Sept. 76/4 Bevan, a replacement for former captain Allan Border in the middle order, shared a fifth-wicket stand of 121 with Steve Waugh.

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