middling

An intermediary halfway state between two concrete states - not at any constant or fixed point in the continuum between the concrete states but never significantly closer to one than the other and never in the same place either. Wishy-washy.

Neither flaccid nor erect - an important state to some people.

Mid"dling (?), a.

Of middle rank, state, size, or quality; about equally distant from the extremes; medium; moderate; mediocre; ordinary.

"A town of but middling size."

Hallam.

Plainly furnished, as beseemed the middling circumstances of its inhabitants. Hawthorne.

-- Mid"dling*ly, adv. -- Mid"dling*ness, n.

 

© Webster 1913.