medium
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: mē'diəm
ipa: /ˈmiː.di.əm/
rhymes: -iːdiəm
Forms: form: media
form: mediums
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin medium, neuter of medius (“middle”), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). Compare middle. Doublet of mid, medio, media, and meson.
Senses: glosses: The material of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent.
examples: text: VVhether any other Liquours, being made Mediums, cauſe a Diuerſity of Sound from Water, it may bee tried: […]
ref: 1631, Francis [Bacon], “III. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching the Medium of Sounds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 220, page 60:
text: He’s old and jealous, apt for ſuſpitions, ’gainſt which Tyrants ears
Are never clos’d. The Prince is young,
Fierce, and ambitious, I muſt bring together
All theſe extreams, and then remove all Mediums,
That each may be the others object.
ref: 1641 (first performance), [John Denham], The Sophy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act II, page 18:
glosses: The materials or empty space through which signals, waves, or forces pass.
examples: text: [A]t all events, she drank in with eager ear, and admiring mind, anecdote and history of all those excellent traits of disposition, and nobleness of conduct, which made him the idol of his describer, and gave her a knowledge of his temper and character, and the manner in which his boyhood and youth had passed, which she could never have gained by any other medium, and which it was unquestionably right she should know.
ref: 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 272:
text: Too often writing—in the broadest sense—is treated as a communicational medium where the subjects of that communication are constituted prior to the writing, where the objects of that communication are also constituted prior to that writing, and where the task of writing is seen as transparently mediating between already pregiven subjects, pregiven objects, and a preconstituted mise en scène.
ref: 2015, “Staging the Politics of Difference: Homi Bhabha's Critical Literacy, Gary A. Olson and Lynn Worsham.”, in Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham, Henry A. Giroux, editors, Politics of Possibility: Encountering the Radical Imagination, page 133:
glosses: A format for communicating or presenting information.
examples: text: In some instances one can take advantage of differential carbohydrate fermentation capabilities of microorganisms by incorporating one or more carbohydrates in the medium along with a suitable pH indicator. Such media are called differential media (e.g., eosin methylene blue or MacConkey agar) and are commonly used to isolate enteric bacilli.
ref: 1996, Samuel Baron, editor, Medical Microbiology:
topics: biology
microbiology
natural-sciences
glosses: A nutrient substance, commonly a solution or solid, for the growth of cells in vitro.
examples: text: The density of the living medium of fishes exerts upon them a mechanical influence; they are, so to say, balanced in water, free to proceed in all planes of direction...
ref: 1895, Bashford Dean., Fishes, Living and Fossil:
topics: agriculture
biology
business
horticulture
lifestyle
natural-sciences
glosses: A substance, structure, or environment in which living organisms subsist, grow or are cultured.
examples: text: His loyalty to the English was doubtful and wavering, and his opposition to Post's journey was probably due to fears that his own importance as a medium between the Ohio Indians and the English would be diminished by the former's success.
ref: 2007, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Reprint Services Corporation, →ISBN, page 186:
glosses: A means, channel, agency or go-between through which communication, commerce, etc is conveyed or carried on, or by which an aim is achieved.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The materials used to finish a workpiece using a mass finishing or abrasive blasting process.
qualifier: plural mediums or media
glosses: A liquid base which carries pigment in paint.
examples: text: Acrylics, oils, charcoal, and gouache are all mediums I used in my painting.
text: Heretofore in following the course, the student has been confined to black and white in the medium of charcoal, pen and ink or pencil. The first introduction to color is by means of the Still Life painting class.
ref: 1898, Report of the Public Schools of the State of Missouri, Missouri: Department of Education, page 98:
text: It was the woodcut, however, that emerged as the favorite graphic medium of Expressionism. Rejecting the almost limitless pictorial possibilities of lithography, which had dominated printmaking during the nineteenth century, […]
ref: 1966, John P. Sedgwick, Discovering Modern Art: The Intelligent Layman's Guide to Painting from Impressionism to Pop:
text: So we get a people in rebellion against a dominant majority, but forced to rebel secretly, to sublimate, as the psychologist would put it — to express themselves culturally through the medium of jaz , and linguistically through a code, a jargon ...
ref: 1967, Barnet Kottler, Martin Light, The World of Words: A Language Reader:
text: Prose is not the preferred medium of expressionism, yet some outstanding individual examples come to mind, for example: Robert Walser's (1876–1956) surrealistic miniatures and novels of a dreamlike structure reminiscent of Kafka […]
ref: 1974, Karl Siegfried Weimar, German Language and Literature: Seven Essays, Prentice Hall:
text: The Pulitzer board said the award was given “in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.”
ref: 1999, Jet, page 29:
qualifier: painting
glosses: A means of expression, in the arts, such as a material (oil, pastel, clay, etc) or method or style (expressionism, jazz, etc).
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: The mean or middle term of a syllogism, that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
examples: text: The hall was not too well lit and dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if her ears were straining.
ref: 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
qualifier: plural mediums or (rare, nonstandard) media
glosses: Someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world.
examples: text: a happy medium
text: [T]he Just Medium of This Case lies betwixt the Pride, and the Abjection of the Two Extreams.
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] 215. An Oak and a Willow, Reflexion.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 188:
text: Her height was pretty, […] her figure particularly graceful; her size a most becoming medium, between fat and thin, […]
ref: 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 29:
text: In search of the principle on which joints ought to be roasted, to be roasted enough, and not too much, I myself referred to the Cookery Book,[…]. But the principle always failed us by some curious fatality, and we never could hit any medium between redness and cinders.
ref: 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Our Housekeeping”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 453:
glosses: A middle place or degree.
examples: text: The number of Britiſh ſhips annually arriving in our ports vvas reduced to 1756 ſail, containing 92.559 tons, on a medium of the ſix years vvar, compared vvith the ſix years of peace preceding it.
ref: 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 5:
glosses: An average; sometimes the mathematical mean.
examples: text: Cavalry […] is divided into mediums, heavies, and light cavalry.
ref: 1891, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, The Historic Note-book: With an Appendix of Battles, page 153:
glosses: Anything of a middle rank or position.
Derived terms: sense: material or substance
word: circumgalactic medium
sense: material or substance
word: contrast medium
sense: material or substance
word: intergalactic medium
sense: material or substance
word: interplanetary medium
sense: material or substance
word: interstellar medium
sense: material or substance
word: warm-hot intergalactic medium
sense: material or substance
word: warm ionized medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: cool medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: English-medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: hot medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: mass medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: social medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: storage medium
sense: format for communicating or presenting information
word: transmission medium
sense: microbology
word: basal medium
sense: microbology
word: culture medium
sense: microbology
word: Czapek-Dox medium
sense: microbology
word: Czapek medium
sense: microbology
word: differential medium
sense: microbology
word: growth medium
sense: microbology
word: LJ medium
sense: microbology
word: Löwenstein-Jensen medium
sense: microbology
word: minimal medium
sense: means, channel or agency by which an aim is achieved
word: circulating medium
sense: means, channel or agency by which an aim is achieved
word: medium of exchange
sense: means, channel or agency by which an aim is achieved
word: medium of instruction
sense: person claiming to convey information from the spirit world
word: mediumism
sense: person claiming to convey information from the spirit world
word: mediumistic
sense: person claiming to convey information from the spirit world
word: mediumship
sense: middle place or degree
word: happy medium
sense: middle place or degree
word: strike a medium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: biomedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: cryomedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: geomedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: hypermedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: intermedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: mediumic
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: mediumist
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: mediumize
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: mediumweight
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: multimedial
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: multimedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: plurimedial
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: polymedial
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: postmedium
sense: others (unsorted, might be derived from adjective
word: transmedium