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midden

[mid-n]
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noun
  1. a dunghill or refuse heap.
  2. kitchen midden.
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Origin of midden

1300–50; Middle English midding < Old Danish mykdyngja, equivalent to myk manure + dyngja pile (Danish mødding)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

middendumplandfilldumpsitejunkyard

Examples from the Web for midden

Historical Examples

  • They happened to fall soft, on a midden, and got away unhurt.

    From a Terrace in Prague

    Lieut.-Col. B. Granville Baker

  • Then, Mrs. Midden says that they get ruined just as soon as they are brought here.

    Virginia

    Ellen Glasgow

  • I forgot to tell you that Mrs. Midden has found me such a nice servant.

    Virginia

    Ellen Glasgow

  • The day you do weel there will be seven munes in the lift and ane on the midden.

    The Proverbs of Scotland

    Alexander Hislop

  • One corner of this midden is bricked off to form a drainage pit.

    The Red Watch

    J. A. Currie

British Dictionary definitions for midden

midden

noun
    1. archaic, or dialecta dunghill or pile of refuse
    2. dialecta dustbin
    3. Northern English dialectan earth closet
  2. See kitchen midden
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Word Origin

C14: from Scandinavian; compare Danish mödding from mög muck + dynge pile
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for midden

n.

mid-14c., "dung hill," of Scandinavian origin; cf. Danish mødding, from møg "muck" (see muck (n.)) + dynge "heap of dung" (see dung). Modern archaeological sense of "kitchen midden" is from Danish excavations.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper