midden
/ˈmɪdən/ noun
Forms middens
- noun A dung heap.
- noun A refuse heap usually near a dwelling.
- noun (archaeology) An accumulation, deposit, or soil derived from occupation debris, rubbish, or other by-products of human activity, such as bone, shell, ash, or decayed organic materials; or a pile or mound of such materials, often prehistoric.
- noun (zoology) A shelter made of vegetation and other materials by packrats.
- noun (zoology) An accumulation of dried urine and fecal deposits made by hyraxes.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English midding, myddyng, from Old Danish mykdyngja, (a compound of Old Norse myk, myki (“muck, manure”) and dyngja (“dung, dungpile”)), whence also Danish møgdynge and mødding, Norwegian mødding, dialectal Swedish mödding.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A dunghill. [Prov. Eng.]
- noun An accumulation of refuse about a dwelling place; especially, an accumulation of shells or of cinders, bones, and other refuse on the supposed site of the dwelling places of prehistoric tribes, --as on the shores of the Baltic Sea and in many other places. See Kitchen middens.
Etymology [Cf. Dan. mögdynge, E. muck, and dung.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “midden”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details