middle rankn.adj.

1642 Speciall Passages 6–13 Sept. 4 A great many persons well affected to the King and Parliament, although they were but of the middle rank of people, and none of any great power or eminence.

1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom I. xxii. 139 Both are distinguished by an air of petulance and self-conceit, which holds a middle rank betwixt the insolence of a first rate buck, and the learned pride of a supercilious pedant.

1854 Biblical Repertory Oct. 654 The Jesuits, who were to do this work, held a middle rank between the monks and the secular clergy.

1857 J. Ruskin Polit. Econ. Art Add. 196 A labourer serves his country with his spade, just as a man in the middle ranks of life serves it with his sword, pen, or lancet.

1961 Times 28 Dec. 11/4 That solid middle-rank of literature.

1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 Mar. 6/2 Competent French-Canadians develop a sense of frustration and inferiority. They move more slowly..up through the middle ranks.

1998 S. Faulks Charlotte Gray iii. iv. 299 He was..a reluctant infantry officer promoted to middle rank by virtue of his education.

1662 Duchess of Newcastle Female Academy ii. viii. 660 It is easier for a middle Rank or Degree, at least it is oftner seen, to behave themselves better than those of high Titles and great Estates, or those of a very mean Condition.

1798 Monthly Mag. 5 i. Pref. sig. Ai^v The middle ranks, in whom the great mass of information, and of public and private virtue resides.

1839 Southern Literary Messenger 5 723/2 These laws..hitherto had virtually debarred the middle ranks of society from the hope of making any permamnent acquisition of real interest.

1858 T. D. Acland Oxf. Associate in Arts Exam. 3 The want of better education, accessible to the middle ranks on easy terms.

1887 Catholic World Feb. 577 The greed of wealth rampant among the upper and middle ranks.

1796 W. H. Marshall Planting II. 438 Middlerank Trees,—or such as usually rise to between forty and sixty feet... Middlerank Shrubs, between twelve and six feet in height.

1969 Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 3 Sterling, too, is a middle-rank currency these days—apparently safe from heavy selling pressure but not exactly in demand by speculators.

1977 Daily Tel. 17 Feb. 8/8 Middle-rank diplomats at the Foreign Office are prepared to ‘withdraw goodwill’ if there are big cut-backs or mass transfers in the Home Civil Service.