The Midway at a Fair Is Named After a Chicago Exhibition
Midway means halfway. In America it also names the strip of sideshows at a fair, from the 1893 World's Fair.
Midway means halfway between two points. American English gives it a second job: the *midway* at a fairground is the strip of stalls, games and rides. The name comes from the Midway Plaisance, a strip of parkland in Chicago that housed the amusement zone of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
- Halfway. *Midway through the film.*
- A fairground strip (American). *Along the midway.*
- Midway Islands — a Pacific atoll. *The Battle of Midway.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adverb | midway | Midway along. |
| Adjective | midway | The midway point. |
| Noun | midway | A busy midway. |
| Related | halfway | Halfway there. |
| Related | midpoint | The midpoint. |
How it is used in a sentence
- They stopped midway.Halfway.
- The midway was crowded.American fairground.
- Midway Atoll is roughly halfway across the Pacific.Which is how it got its name.
Compounds with mid-
- midday — the middle of the day
- midnight — the middle of the night
- midsummer — around the summer solstice
- midfield — the central area of a pitch
- midriff — the middle of the body, from Old English *hrif*, a belly
A compound of *mid* and *way*. The fairground sense comes from the Midway Plaisance in Chicago, 1893.
Why is a fairground strip called a midway?
After the Midway Plaisance in Chicago, where the 1893 World's Fair placed its amusement attractions.
What does *midriff* mean?
The middle of the body, from Old English *mid* and *hrif*, meaning belly. The second element survives nowhere else.