midden
Americannoun
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archaic a dunghill or pile of refuse
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dialect a dustbin
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dialect an earth closet
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See kitchen midden
Etymology
Origin of midden
1300–50; Middle English midding < Old Danish mykdyngja, equivalent to myk manure + dyngja pile ( Danish mødding )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the next picnic table over, a little girl tipped an oyster back then dropped it on the ground—one more shell for the modern midden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
The project overall is called the Super Midden, based on midden - a word mostly used by archaeologists to describe ancient rubbish dumps.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2025
“There is shell midden over here,” he said, referring to the mix of broken bone and shell left from cooking fires hundreds and thousands of years ago.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2022
In August, Kumeyaay protesters in San Diego found midden soil, evidence of cremated remains of their ancestors, at a construction site.
From Slate ● Feb. 1, 2021
What they found instead was a midden heap, a pigsty, an empty sheepfold, and a windowless daub-and-wattle hall scarce worthy of the name.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
