Midlines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of lines that divide a shape or object into equal parts; a reference point that is equidistant from the edges or borders of an area; the central lines that help in organizing or aligning elements within a design or structure
2. Lines that create symmetry by splitting an object properly down the center; lines that serve as guidelines for positioning or measuring within a given space; the primary markers that help to delineate and balance components in visual presentations
3. Central lines used to balance or organize sections of an object; lines acting as reference points for the distribution of forms within design; essential guides for ensuring proportion and symmetry in various contexts

Etymology: "Midline" is simply a compound of "mid" and "line", the kind of transparent coinage English produces when it needs a precise name for something. The "mid" comes from Old English "midd", which traces back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning middle, a sense it has kept for well over a thousand years. The "line" is older still in English, arriving from Old English "līne", which was itself borrowed from Latin "linea", ultimately from "linum", flax, because a thread of flax was the most familiar straight line a person could hold. The plural "midlines" is simply the regular plural of "midline", meaning more than one such dividing line. Those lines are the ones that split a figure, a body, or a page into two equal halves, so the word works as a precise label for each separate line of that kind.

Synonyms: centers, middles