midden

[mid-n]

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noun

a dunghill or refuse heap.

kitchen midden.

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. 2019

Related Words for midden

dump, landfill, dumpsite, junkyard

Examples from the Web for midden

Historical Examples of midden

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

archaic, or dialecta dunghill or pile of refuse
dialecta dustbin
Northern English dialectan earth closet

See kitchen midden

Word Origin for midden

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

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.