mediscalenus 
sealenits, q. v.] The middle scalene muscle of 
the neck; the scalenus medius. COIK-X. 
medisect (me-di-sekf), r. t. [< L. medius, if id- 
die, + secure, pp. nectus, cut.] To cut through 
the middle; sever into equal right and left 
parts. Ii. a. Wilder. 
medisection (me-di-sek'shon), n. [< medisect + 
-ion, after section.] Hemisection : dissection at 
the meson or median longitudinal line of the 
body. B. G. Wilder. 
meditabundt (med"i-ta-bund'), a. [< LL. medi- 
tabwidus, < L. meditari', meditate : see meditate.'] 
Pensive; thoughtful. Bailey, 1731. 
meditancet (med'i-tans), w. [< medit(ate) + 
-once.] Meditation. 
Your first thought is more 
Than others's labour'd meditance; your premeditating 
More than their actions. 
Fletcher (attd another), Two Noble Kinsmen, L 1. 
meditant (med'i-tant), a. and n. [< L. medi- 
ttiu(t-)s, ppr. of meditari, meditate: see medi- 
tate.'] I.t . Meditating. 
A wise justice of peace meditant. 
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, Ind. 
II. n. One who meditates ; one who gives 
himself up to meditation. [Rare.] 
Celestial Meditant ! whose Ardours rise 
Deep from the Tombs, and kindle to the Skies. 
A Physician, To James Hervey, on his Meditations among 
[the Tombs (1748). 
meditate (med'i-tat), v. ; pret. and pp. medi- 
tated, ppr. meditating. [< L. meditatus, pp. of 
meditari (> It. meditare ='Sp. Pg. meditar = F. 
me'diter'), think or reflect upon, consider, design, 
purpose, intend ; in form as if freq. of mederi, 
heal, cure ; in sense (and in form, allowing for 
the possible interchange of d and I) near to Gr. 
us'teTav, care for. attend to, study, practise, etc.] 
1. intrans. 1. To think abstractedly; engage 
in mental contemplation ; revolve a subject in 
the mind; cogitate; ruminate. 
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide. 
Gen. xxiv. 63. 
While I roved about the forest, long and bitterly medi- 
tating. Tennyson, Boadicea. 
2. To think out a plan or method ; engage in 
planning or contriving ; fix one's thoughts with 
reference to a result or conclusion : followed 
by on or upon. 
I will meditate the while upon some horrid message for 
a challenge. Shak., '. N., iii. 4. 219. 
= Syn. To consider, reflect. See list under contemplate, 
v. t, 
II. trans. 1. To plan; design; intend. 
Some affirmed that I meditated a war ; God knows, I did 
not then think of war. Eikon Basililte. 
Resolved to win, he meditates the way 
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray. 
Pope, E. of the L., ii. 31. 
Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath. 
Thomson, Winter, 1. 898. 
2. To think on; revolve in the mind ; consider. 
Blessed is the man that doth meditate good things. 
Ecclus. xiv. 20. 
Alas ! what boots it with incessant care 
To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd's trade, 
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 66. 
3. To observe thoughtfully or intently; con- 
template vigilantly; watch. [Rare.] 
Crouch'd dose he [a spaniel] lies, and meditates the prey. 
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 102. 
= Syn. 1. To devise, concoct. 2. To contemplate, rumi- 
nate, revolve, study. 
meditatio fugs (med-i-ta'shi-6 fii'je). [L., con- 
templation of flight: see meditation and fugue.'] 
In Scots law, a phrase noting the position of a 
debtor who meditates an escape to avoid the 
payment of his debts. When a creditor can make 
oath that his debtor, whether native or foreigner, is in 
meditatione fugce, or when he has reasonable ground of 
apprehension that the debtor has such an intention, he is 
entitled to a warrant to apprehend the debtor. The war- 
rant may be obtained from any judge of the Court of Ses- 
sion, the sheriff, a magistrate of a burgh, or a justice 'of 
the peace, and is termed a meditatio fugue warrant. Under 
the Debtors (Scotland) Act, 1881, which abolishes impris- 
onment for debt except in a few special cases, warrants of 
this kind are practically obsolete. Imp. Diet. 
meditation (med-i-ta'shon), n. [< ME. medi- 
hirimin, < OF. meditation, F. meditation = Sp. 
tneditacion = Pg. meditacao = It. meditazione, 
< L. meditatio(n-), < meditari, meditate: see 
meditate.'] 1. The act of meditating; close 
or continued thought ; the turning or revolv- 
ing of a subject in the mind; sustained re- 
flection. 
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my 
heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, rny strength and 
my redeemer. p s . xj x . 14 
3686 
And the imperial votaress passed on 
In maiden meditation, fancy-free. 
Skak., M. N. D., ii. 1. 164. 
It should be no interruption to your pleasures to hear me 
often say that I love you, and that you are as much my 
meditations as myself. Donne, Letters, iv. 
He, then, that neglects to actuate such discourses loses 
the benefit of his meditation. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 69. 
Deep and slow, exhausting thought . . . 
In meditation dwelt with learning wrought. 
Byron, Childe Harold, iil. 107. 
2. Religious contemplation. 
He is within, with two right reverend fathers, 
Divinely bent to meditation. 
Shalt., Rich. III., iii. 7. 62. 
Meditations in order to a good life, let them be as exalted 
as the capacity of the person and subject will endure up to 
the height of contemplation ; but if contemplation comes 
to be a distinct thing, and something besides or beyond 
a distinct degree of virtuous meditation, it is lost to all 
sense, and religion, and prudence. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 73. 
3. In tlieol.: (a) A private devotional act, con- 
sisting in deliberate reflection upon some 
spiritual truth or mystery, accompanied by 
mental prayer and by acts of the affections 
and of the will, especially formation of reso- 
lutions as to future conduct. Meditation differs 
from study in that its principal object is not to acquire 
knowledge, but to advance in love of God and holiness of 
life, (l)) A public act of devotion, in which a 
director leads a congregation in meditating 
upon some spiritual subject. 4. A short lit- 
erary composition in which the subject (usually 
religious) is treated in a meditative manner: 
as, a volume of hymns and meditations. 
But natheles this meditacioitn 
I putte it ay under correccioun 
Of clerkes ; for I am not textuel. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Parson's Tale, L 55. 
meditationist (med-i-ta'shon-ist), n. [< medi- 
ta tion + - ist. ] A writer or composer of medita- 
tions. Soutliey, The Doctor, interchapter xxii. 
meditatist (med'i-ta-tist), w. [< meditate + 
-.s.] One given to meditation or thoughtful- 
ness. [Rare.] Imp. Diet. 
meditative (med'i-ta-tiv), a. [= F. mMitatif 
= Pr. meditatiu = Sp. Pg. It. meditativo, < LL. 
meditatims, < L. meditari, meditate: see medi- 
tate.'] 1. Addicted to meditation. 
Abeillard was pious, reserved, and meditative. 
Berington, Hist. Abeillard. 
2. Pertaining or inclining to or expressing 
meditation: as, a meditative mood. 
Inward self-disparagement affords 
To meditative spleen a grateful feast. 
Wordsworth, Excursion, iv. 
meditatively (med'i-ta-tiv-li), adv. In a med- 
itative manner; with meditation, 
zneditativeness (med'i-tft-tiy-nes), n. The 
state orcharacterof beingmeditative ; thought- 
fulness. 
meditet (med'it), . t. [< OF. mediter, < L. me- 
ditari, meditate: see meditate.'] To meditate 
upon ; consider or study thoughtfully. 
Mediating the sacred Temple's plot. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas s Weeks, ii., The Magnificence. 
mediterranet (med''i-te-ran'), . [= F. medi- 
terrane = Pr. mcditerrane = Sp. Pg. It. medi- 
terraneo, < L. mediterraneans, midland, inland, 
remote from the sea (LL. Mediterranean mare, 
the Mediterranean Sea, previously called Mare 
magnum, nostrum, in ternum) ; as a" noun, the in- 
terior; <meditts, middle, + terra, land. Cl.med- 
ilerranean.'] Same as mediterranean. 
They that haue seene the mediterran or inner parts of 
the kingdome of China, do report it to be a most amiable 
countrey. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. ii. 91. 
And for our own ships, they went sundry voyages, as 
well to your streights, which you call the Pillars of Her- 
cules, as to other parts in the Atlantiqne and Mediterrane 
Seas. Bacon, New Atlantis. 
mediterranean (med"i-te-ra'ne-an), a. [< medi- 
terrane + -an.'] If. In tne midst of an expanse 
of land ; away from the sea ; inland. 
Their buildings are for the most part of tvmber, for the 
mediterranean countreys have almost no stone. 
The Kyngdame of Japonia. 
These facts appear to be opposed to the theory that 
rock-salt is due to the sinking of water charged with salt 
in mediterranean spaces of the ocean. 
Darwin, Geol. Observations, p. 580. 
2. Nearly or quite surrounded by land; exist- 
ing in the midst of inclosing land; confined or 
cut off by a bordering of land : used specifically 
[cap.'] as the name of the sea between Europe 
and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, or (substan- 
tively) the Mediterranean, and rarely otherwise. 
3. [cap.] Pertaining to, situated on or near, 
or dwelling about the Mediterranean Sea: as, 
the Mediterranean currents ; the M 
medium 
countries or races Mediterranean fan-palm, fe- 
ver, etc. See the nouns. Mediterranean subregion, 
in zoo(feog.,the second of four subregions into which the 
I'alearctic region is divided. As bounded by Wallace, it 
includes all the countries south of the Pyrenees, Alps, 
Balkans, and Caucasus mountains, all the southern shores 
of the Mediterranean to the Atlas range and beyond to 
the extratropical part of the Sahara and the Xile valley 
to the second cataract ; while eastward it includes the 
northern half of Arabia, all Persia and Baluchistan, and 
perhaps Afghanistan to the Indus. 
mediterraneoust (med"i-te-i-a'nf-us), a. [< L. 
mediterranean, midland : see mediterrane.] In- 
land; remote from the ocean or sea. 
It is found in mountains and inediterraneous parts. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 4. 
meditulliumt (me-di-tul'i-um), . [NL., < ML. 
meditullium, meditolium, etc., the middle of a 
thing, a yolk, hub, etc., < L. medius, middle, + 
-tullium, -folium, etc., apparently a mere ter- 
mination.] In bot., same as diploe, 2. See cut 
under diploe. 
medium (me'di-um), n. and a. [= F. medium 
= Sp. media = Pg. meio = It. media, n., a me- 
dium, middle course, < L. medium, neut. of me- 
dius, middle, = Gr. ^o-of, middle: see middle."] 
1. n.; pi. media or mediums (-a, -umz). 1. That 
which holds a middle place or position ; that 
which comes or stands between the extremes 
in a series, as of things, principles, ideas, cir- 
cumstances, etc.; a mean. 
They love or hate, no medium amongst them. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 167. 
For there is no medium between living in sin and for- 
saking of it ; and nothing deserves the name of Repen- 
tance that is short of that. Stillingjteet, Sermons, iii. 
A gen'rous friendship no cold medium knows, 
Bums with one love, with one resentment glows. 
Pope, Iliad, ix. 725. 
The piece, however, has no medium; all that is not ex- 
cellent is intolerably bad. 
Giford, Int. to Ford's Plays, p. xl. 
Technically (a) In math., a mean. See mean^. (6) In 
logic, the mean or middle term of a syllogism, (c) A 
size of paper between demy and royal. American print- 
ing-medium is 19 x 24 inches; American writing-medium, 
18 x 23 inches ; English printing-medium, 18 x 28 inches ; 
English writing-medium, 17J x 22 inches ; American dou- 
ble medium, 24 x 38 inches; and American medium and 
a half, 24 x 30 inches. 
2. Anything which serves or acts intermediate- 
ly ; something by means of which an action is 
performed or an effect produced; an interven- 
ing agency or instrumentality: as, the atmo- 
sphere is a medium of sound. 
Nothing comes to him not spoiled by the sophisticating 
medium of moral uses. Lamb, Old and New Schoolmaster. 
A negotiation was opened through the medium of the 
ambassador. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xviii. 
The social medium has been created for man by human- 
ity. lUaudsley, Body and Will, p. 157. 
Specifically (a) In painting, any liquid vehicle, as linseed- 
oil, poppy-oil, varnish,or water, with which dry pigments are 
ground, or with which pigments are mixed by the painter 
while at work, in order to give them greater fluidity. (6) 
In acoustics, a ponderable elastic substance, as air or other 
gas, water, etc., which transmits the energy of the sound- 
ing body in waves of condensation and rarefaction to the 
ear. (c) In heat and light, that which transmits the energy 
of the heated or luminous body to a distance in undula- 
tory waves ; the ether, (d) In bacteriology, the nutritive 
substance, either a liquid or a solid, in which or upon which 
the various forms of microscopic life are grown for study. 
The liquid media employed are infusions of hay, extract 
of beer-yeast, and broth of various kinds of meat. The 
solid media most used are eggs, slices of potatoes and 
carrots, agar-agar, and especially gelatin and the gelatin- 
ized serum of the blood of oxen. After being thoroughly 
sterilized by heat, they are usually placed in test-tubes, 
and inoculated with the form that it is desired to study ; 
the cultures may then be observed through the glass. 
3. A person through whom, or through whose 
agency, another acts ; specifically, one who is 
supposed to be controlled in speech and action 
by the will of another person or a disem- 
bodied being, as in animal magnetism and 
spiritualism; an instrument for the manifes- 
tation of another personality. Many of the so- 
called spiritual mediums claim the power of acting upon 
and through matter, by means of the spirits controlling 
them, in a manner independent of ordinary material con- 
ditions and limitations. In this sense the plural mediums 
is preferred. 
Although particular persons adopted the profession of 
media between men and Elohim, there was no limitation 
of the power, in the view of ancient Israel, to any special 
class of the population. 
Huxley, in Nineteenth Century, XIX. 354. 
4. Something of mean or medium weight, size, 
etc. [Colloq.] 
The present classification of the cavalry of the line is as 
follows: thiiteen regiments of Mediums, comprising the 
seven regiments of Dragoon Guards, numbered ] to 7 ; etc. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 111. 
The 4th Dragoon Guards ure no longer "Heavies," but 
Mediums. JV. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. ill. 
Circulating medium, coin and bank-notes, or paper con- 
vertible into money on demand: currency. Medium 
cseli, in axtrol., midheaven ; the meridian of the place of 
