From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Medium \Me"di*um\, adjective Having a middle position or degree; mean; intermediate; medial; as, a horse of medium size; a decoction of medium strength.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Medium \Me"di*um\, noun; pl. L. {Media}, {E}. {Mediums}. [L. medium the middle, fr. medius middle. See {Mid}, and cf. {Medius}.]
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. --L'Estrange. (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. --Bacon.
I must bring together All these extremes; and must remove all mediums. --Denham.
3. An average. [R.]
A medium of six years of war, and six years of peace. --Burke.
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. [PJC]
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]. [PJC]
{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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: around the middle of a scale of evaluation of physical measures; "an orange of average size"; "intermediate capacity"; "a plane with intermediate range"; "medium bombers" [syn: {average}, {intermediate}]
2: (of meat) cooked until there is just a little pink meat inside
noun
1: a means or instrumentality for storing or communicating information
2: the surrounding environment; "fish require an aqueous medium"
3: an intervening substance through which signals can travel as a means for communication
4: (bacteriology) a nutrient substance (solid or liquid) that is used to cultivate micro-organisms [syn: {culture medium}]
5: an intervening substance through which something is achieved; "the dissolving medium is called a solvent"
6: a liquid with which pigment is mixed by a painter
7: (biology) a substance in which specimens are preserved or displayed
8: a state that is intermediate between extremes; a middle position; "a happy medium"
9: someone who serves as an intermediary between the living and the dead; "he consulted several mediums" [syn: {spiritualist}]
10: transmissions that are disseminated widely to the public [syn: {mass medium}]
11: an occupation for which you are especially well suited; "in law he found his true metier" [syn: {metier}] [also: {media} (pl)]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
349 Moby Thesaurus words for "medium": Charlie McCarthy, actor, agency, agent, air brush, ambiance, ambience, ambient, amidships, ancilla, appliance, approach, arbitrator, arc, arc light, architect, art paper, atmosphere, atoms, autecology, author, automatist, avenue, average, balance, banal, betwixt and between, bien cuit, bioecology, bionomics, broker, brush, camera lucida, camera obscura, canvas, center, central, chalk, channel, charcoal, chromogen, climate, coat, coat of paint, coating, color, color filter, color gelatin, colorant, coloring, common, compromise, connection, contact, contrivance, conveyance, core, course, crayon, creator, creature, crown, dead-color, deputy, device, dimmer, distemper, distillate, distillation, distributor, doer, done, doneness, drawing paper, drawing pencil, drier, dull, dummy, duodecimo, dupe, dye, dyestuff, easel, ecoclimate, ecodeme, ecology, ecosystem, ecstatic, eighteenmo, element, elixir, environment, equatorial, equidistant, essence, everyday, executant, executor, executrix, expedient, exterior paint, fabric, fabricator, fair, fair to middling, fairish, fence, fixative, flat coat, flat wash, floats, flood, floodlight, floor enamel, folio, footlights, foots, front, front man, gelatin, generality, gist, go-between, golden mean, ground, half measures, half-and-half measures, halfway, halfway measures, handmaid, handmaiden, happy medium, heart, imperial, implement, indifferent, insipid, instrument, instrumentality, instrumentation, interagent, interceder, intercessor, intercurrent, interior, interior paint, interjacent, intermediary, intermediate, intermediate agent, intermediation, intermediator, intermedium, internuncio, interpleader, intervener, intervenient, intervening, interventionist, interventor, jobber, juste-milieu, kernel, klieg light, lackluster, lay figure, lever, liaison, light plot, lights, limelight, link, long suit, maker, marquee, marrow, material, matter, maulstick, mean, means, meat, mechanism, medial, median, mediary, mediator, mediocre, mediocrity, mediterranean, medium-rare, mesial, mesne, method, metier, mezzo, mid, middle, middle course, middle ground, middle point, middle position, middle state, middle way, middle-of-the-road, middleman, middling, midland, midpoint, midships, midway, midwife, milieu, minion, ministry, mise-en-scene, mode, moderate, moderateness, moderation, modest, mouthpiece, mover, namby-pamby, necromancer, negotiant, negotiator, negotiatress, negotiatrix, neutral, neutral ground, norm, normal, nub, nuclear, octavo, octodecimo, of a kind, of a sort, of sorts, ombudsman, opaque color, operant, operative, operator, ordinary, organ, overcooked, overdone, oyster, paint, paintbrush, palette, palette knife, par, passable, pastel, pawn, pencil, performer, perpetrator, pigment, pigments, pith, plaything, popular, practitioner, prime coat, prime mover, primer, priming, producer, psychic, psychographist, puppet, quarto, quintessence, respectable, road, route, routine, royal, rule, run, run-of-mine, run-of-the-mill, sap, scratchboard, servant, sextodecimo, siccative, sixteenmo, sketchbook, sketchpad, slave, so-so, soul, spatula, spirit, spirit rapper, spiritist, spiritualist, spokesman, spokeswoman, spot, spotlight, spray gun, stain, standard, stooge, stuff, stump, subject, substance, sum and substance, super, surroundings, synecology, tangible, technique, tedious, tempera, thinner, tie, tinction, tincture, tolerable, tool, toy, transparent color, turpentine, turps, twelvemo, undercoat, undercoating, usual, vapid, varnish, vehicle, via media, vulgar, wash, wash coat, way, well-cooked, well-done, wholesaler, wishy-washy, worker
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