Definition of "median"

median

/ˈmiː.dɪən/

noun
plural medians
1. (anatomy, now rare) A central vein or nerve, especially the median vein or median nerve running through the forearm and arm.
  Quotations
  Why is not our jugular or throat-veine as much at our command as the mediane [translating mediane]?
  1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 3, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]
  The Greeks prescribe the median or middle vein to be opened, and so much blood to be taken away as the patient may well spare, and the cut that is made must be wide enough.
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 5, member 2
2. (geometry) A line segment joining the vertex of triangle to the midpoint of the opposing side.
3. (statistics) A number separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, population, or probability distribution. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one (e.g., the median of {3, 3, 5, 9, 11} is 5). If there is an even number of observations, then there is no single middle value; the median is then usually defined to be the mean of the two middle values.
4. (US) The area separating two lanes of opposite-direction traffic; the median strip.
  Quotations
  Seen from street level, the median was clean most days. From the third floor you peered over the benches and trees and saw the trash crowding the subway ventilation grates and paving stones.
  2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 134
adjective
not comparable
1. (anatomy) Situated in a middle, central, or intermediate part, section, or range of (something).
2. (anatomy, botany) In the middle of an organ, structure etc.; towards the median plane of an organ or limb.
  Quotations
  Cellariiform, the orifices nearly confined to the convex frontal and lateral surfaces; the basal surface with a strong median calcareous keel, almost concealed by a flat membranous epitheca, which covers the whole zoarium […]
  1957, Sidney Frederic Harmer, The Polyzoa of the Siboga Expedition, page 1106
3. (statistics) Having the median as its value.