adv. [prop. a phrase, = ‘in the ship’s middle, in centre of the ship,’ retaining the genitive which originally followed AMID, as in amid-heaps. The phr. must therefore be old though our instances begin late.] In the middle of a ship; rarely, to or towards the middle of the ship.
1692. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., I. xvi. 76. He who cuns the Ship uses these terms to him at Helm, Starboard, Larboard, Port, Helm a Midships.
1755. Smollett, Don Quix. (1803), II. 185. The other … took us amidships, and laid the side of the bark entirely open.
1833. Marryat, Pet. Simple. The two sheep-pens amidships are full of pigs. Ibid. (1837), Perc. Keene, xl. (1863), 282. The vessel … had parted amidships.
1859. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xv. 372. I moved round more amidships.
1873. Brit. Q. Rev., Jan., 110. In the Invincible the whole of the protected guns are carried amidships.
