middleveld, noun

Forms:
Formerly also middleveldt; now frequently with initial capital.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Partial translation of Afrikaans middelveld (middel middle + veld open, undeveloped countryside).
That region between the highveld and the lowveld, mostly lying 600 to 1200 metres above sea level and comprising a wide variety of vegetation and soil types. Also attributive.
Note:
One of the major southern African physiographic regions, the middleveld lies across the northern, north-western and north-eastern parts of the interior, and extends into neighbouring countries. The boundaries of the region, based mainly on altitude and prominent physical features, are not clearly defined.
1878 A. Aylward Tvl of Today 25The same class of progress is everywhere visible..in the nearer and more recently settled district called the ‘Middleveld’ of the Orange Free State.
1902 C. Warren On Veldt in Seventies 225We arrived at a settlement station in the Middle Veldt, forty miles from Worcester, 2800 feet above it.
1926 M. Nathan S. Afr. from Within 210In the area, as in the Middle Veld (Barberton) and the western Bush Veld (Rustenburg and Waterberg), are the most suitable tracts for cultivation of citrus.
1931 Discovery Aug. 259There are two cotton breeding stations in the Transvaal; one at Rustenberg, where problems connected with the improvement of cottons for middle-veld areas are dealt with.
1937 J. Stevenson-Hamilton S. Afr. Eden 111It is fine open healthy country, about 3,000 feet above sea level, in what is known as ‘middle veld’.
1955 J.H. Wellington Sn Afr.: Geog. Study I. 72These two regions..have important points of dissimilarity, the chief of which are the greater altitude and humidity of the highveld and the greater areas of pre-Karoo surfaces in the middleveld.
1958 S. Cloete Mask 92They began to drop from the high country into the middle veld as the Boers called it, the land intermediate between the bitter highlands and the pestilential bush of the low country.
1961 D. Bee Children of Yesterday 281There had been no men here, no huts, no crops, no cattle. The middleveld had been a hard land then.
1972 Farmer’s Weekly 21 Apr. 11Normal dryland conditions in the Rhodesian middleveld.
1972 Sunday Times 21 May 15 (advt)In the tranquil, radiant warmth of the Transvaal Middleveld..you become one with nature.
1988 N. Richards in Fair Lady Mar. 96Divided neatly into four strips — the highveld, middleveld, lowveld and Lubombo range — the scenery in Swaziland appears to do something different around every corner.
That region between the highveld and the lowveld, mostly lying 600 to 1200 metres above sea level and comprising a wide variety of vegetation and soil types. Also attributive.
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18781988