Definition of "middling" []

• Of medium size, position, or quality. (adjective)
• Mediocre. See Synonyms at average. (adjective)
• Chiefly Southern U.S. Pork or bacon cut from between the ham and shoulder of a pig. Often used in the plural. (noun)
• Chiefly Southern U.S. Salt pork. Also called middling meat. (noun)
• Any of various products, such as partially refined petroleum or ore, that are intermediate in quality, size, price, or grade. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "From domestic uneasiness a man has a thousand resources; in middling life, the tavern, in high life, the gaming-table, suspends the anxiety of thought."
• "Joshua Rothkopf, senior film writer at Time Out New York, hands out a maximum of six stars (which unintentionally enables studios to label his middling recommendations as four-star reviews in ads)."
• "But just as well, let's have people with military experience; let's have people from all walks of life, people from the top-echelon schools but also people from junior colleges and the so-called middling schools -- that's the pageantry of America ..."