MEDIUM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Medium

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/mˈidiəm/ Listen

noun

Medium n. (pl. L. media, E. mediums)

1.

That which lies in the middle, or between other things; intervening body or quantity. Hence, specifically:

(a)

Middle place or degree; mean. "The just medium... lies between pride and abjection."

(b)

(Math.) See Mean.

(c)

(Logic) The mean or middle term of a syllogism; that by which the extremes are brought into connection.

2.

A substance through which an effect is transmitted from one thing to another; as, air is the common medium of sound. Hence: The condition upon which any event or action occurs; necessary means of motion or action; that through or by which anything is accomplished, conveyed, or carried on; specifically, In animal magnetism, spiritualism, etc., a person through whom the action of another being is said to be manifested and transmitted. "Whether any other liquors, being made mediums, cause a diversity of sound from water, it may be tried." "I must bring together All these extremes; and must remove all mediums."

3.

An average. (R.) "A medium of six years of war, and six years of peace."

4.

A trade name for printing and writing paper of certain sizes. See Paper.

5.

(Paint.) The liquid vehicle with which dry colors are ground and prepared for application.

6.

(Microbiology) A source of nutrients in which a microorganism is placed to permit its growth, cause it to produce substances, or observe its activity under defined conditions; also called culture medium or growth medium. The medium is usually a solution of nutrients in water, or a similar solution solidified with gelatin or agar.

7.

A means of transmission of news, advertising, or other messages from an information source to the public, also called a news medium, such as a newspaper or radio; used mostly in the plural form, i. e. news media or media. See 1st media (2).

Circulating medium, a current medium of exchange, whether coin, bank notes, or government notes.

Ethereal medium (Physics), the ether.

Medium of exchange, that which is used for effecting an exchange of commodities money or current representatives of money.

adjective

Medium adj. Having a middle position or degree; mean; intermediate; medial; as, a horse of medium size; a decoction of medium strength.

See images of 'Medium'

Etymology of 'Medium'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Medium" Quotes from Famous Books

... rule to avoid as much as possible mentioning the names of the humbler actors in the international drama, I have given the notorious medium a name which conceals his ...

— The International Spy - Being the Secret History of the Russo-Japanese War • Allen Upward

... to negotiate peace; and it was the influential French Minister to the United States who was responsible for others being added to the commission. Adams was a sturdy New Englander of British stock and of a distinctly English type—medium height, a stout figure, and a ruddy face. No one questioned his honesty, his straightforwardness, or his lack of tact. Being a man of strong mind, of wide reading and even great learning, and having serene confidence in the purity of his motives as well as in the soundness of his judgment, ...

— The Fathers of the Constitution - Volume 13 in The Chronicles Of America Series • Max Farrand

... abstract of his views; and thence it arises, perhaps, that notwithstanding the clearness of the style, those who attempt fairly to digest the book find much of it a sort of intellectual pemmican—a mass of facts crushed and pounded into shape, rather than held together by the ordinary medium of an obvious logical bond; due attention will, without doubt, discover this bond, but it is often hard ...

— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

... shall follow is, first, to make some preliminary observations as to the times, places and modes of holding the church courts; second, with the aid of illustrations drawn from the act-books of these courts, to show how their judicial administration was exercised over the parish, either through the medium of the parish officers or directly upon the parishioners themselves; third, to analyze the means at the command of the ecclesiastical judges to enforce their decrees; and, finally, to point out that from its very nature the exercise of spiritual jurisdiction ...

— The Elizabethan Parish in its Ecclesiastical and Financial Aspects • Sedley Lynch Ware

... apparent with the calling of the first parliament of Lower Canada in 1792. Before this there had been no specific definition of the exact status of the French language in {9} Canada, and the question arose as to its use in the Assembly as a medium of debate. As the Quebec Act of 1774 had restored the French laws, it was inferred that the use of the French language had been authorized, since otherwise these laws would have no natural medium of interpretation. That this was the inference to be ...

— The 'Patriotes' of '37 - A Chronicle of the Lower Canada Rebellion • Alfred D. Decelles

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