middle distance

noun

Also called middle ground, middle plane. Fine Arts. the represented space between the foreground and background in paintings, drawings, etc.
(in track) a race distance ranging from 400 meters or 440 yards to 1 mile.

Origin of middle distance

First recorded in 1805–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for middle-distance

Contemporary Examples of middle-distance

Hamilton competed in middle-distance running at the Games in 1992, 1996, and 2000 but never scored a medal.
A Peek at Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton’s Escort Service
Eliza Shapiro
December 22, 2012
Kipketer currently holds eight of the 17 all-time fastest 800m times, a middle-distance track event.
What Makes a Great Olympian? Sometimes It’s Genetics
Jon Entine
August 11, 2012

Historical Examples of middle-distance

These figures must be in the foreground, and the rest in the middle-distance or in the back-ground.
The Author's Craft
Arnold Bennett
We need a middle-distance man and some one who knows something about pole vaulting.
For the Honor of the School
Ralph Henry Barbour
When Peets lets drive something about 'sky effects,' an' 'fore-grounds,' an' 'middle-distance,' we stacks in all sim'lar.
Faro Nell and Her Friends
Alfred Henry Lewis
In the middle-distance, Mrs. Payson was approaching with a cup of nourishing beef-tea.
Stanford Stories
Charles K. Field

British Dictionary definitions for middle-distance

middle-distance

adjective

athletics relating to or denoting races of a length between the sprints and the distance events, esp the 800 metres and the 1500 metres

noun middle distance

Also called: middle ground part of a painting, esp a landscape between the foreground and far distance

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