Midland

From Middle English mydlonde, equivalent to mid- +‎ land.

• (proper noun) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdlənd/

Midland

1. The loosely-defined region of the United States that is between the North and the South, where Midland American English is spoken.
   • 2006, Thomas Edward Murray, Beth Lee Simon, Language Variation and Change in the American Midland: A New Look (→ISBN)
   • 2011, William Labov, Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 3 (→ISBN):

     Throughout the Midland and the South, the nucleus of /aw/ is well front of center, [...]

2. (chiefly attributive) The English Midlands.
   • 1912, Walter William Skeat, English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day:

     [...] the difficult Southern English found in the Kentish Ayenbite of Inwyt, or even from the Midland of Chaucer's poems.

   • 1961, Pronunciation of English in the United States, pages 110 and 175:

     The striking positional variants [...] of Virginia are probably an American innovation, since this feature is not found in Standard British English or the folk speech of the Midland and the south of England, though northern England and Scotland have it to some extent.

     […]

     It is worth noting that only two instances of the pronunciation /jɛst/, riming with guest, have been recorded in the New England settlement area (one near Boston, the other near Buffalo), a pronunciation widely used in the English Midland along with /jɪst/, riming with fist. These are the normal derivatives of OE gist, gest...

3. An unincorporated community in Wright Township, Greene County, Indiana, USA.
4. A town in Maryland.
5. A city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan.
6. A town in North Carolina.
7. A village in Ohio.
8. A town in Ontario, Canada.
9. A borough in Pennsylvania.
10. A city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas.
11. A census-designated place in Virginia.
12. A census-designated place in Washington.
13. (historical) A former railway company in England, the Midland Railway.
    • 1891, Report ... Together with the Proceedings of the [Great British Parliament's Joint Select] Committee [on Railway Rates and Charges], Minutes, Mr. Bidder, in Mr. George Henry Turner is re-called, line 1643, line 15551:

      "... the case of the Midland and the case of the Great Eastern" (his Lordship had been referring to the reasons for special scales). "The case of the Midland we found to be very peculiar, because, unlike most of the other railway companies,..."

• Midland County

Midland (comparative more Midland, superlative most Midland)

1. From or pertaining to the English Midlands.
   • 1908, “Report of the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 88:

     In the more Midland counties, there are thirteen ; in Staffordshire (Wolverhampton), one; in Warwick (Birmingham), seven; in Nottingham, three; in Leicester, one; and Northampton, one.

   • 1923, “The Old Book Trade in Birmingham”, in The Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record, page 235:

     The obvious inference was that Midland culture found its centre in Lichfield, and that the only claim to distinction which the larger town could make was based on commercial grounds.

   • 1930, Victoria Roberts, Eighteenth Century Gentlemen, →ISBN, page 73:

     His only visit to London had been that on which been touched by Queen Anne for the King's Evil and throughout his life he preserved a Midland accent in his speech.

   • 2004, Kenneth Morgan, Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the Eighteenth Century, →ISBN, page 109:

     This stimulated sales and suited the needs of small manufacturers in the Midland city, who could not afford to trade on credit.

2. Relating to the dialect of American English spoken in the Midwest known as Midland American English.