mi-parti

English

Alternative forms

• miparti (rare)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from French mi-parti (literally “divided down the middle”), from Middle French mi-parti, from Old French miparti, past participle of mipartir (“to split in half”), from mi (“middle”) +‎ partir (“to split”); compare medial and party (“divided”). Though the term is mentioned beginning in the 17th century, actual use is apparently only recorded from the 19th century onwards.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /miːˈpɑːti/, /ˌmiːpɑːˈtiː/, /ˌmiːpəˈtiː/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /miˈpɑɹti/, /ˌmipɑɹˈti/, /ˌmiːpɚˈti/

Adjective

mi-parti (not comparable)

1. (heraldry, clothing, chiefly historical) Vertically divided into distinctly-coloured or patterned halves; party per pale.
   • [1610, Edmund Bolton, Edm: Bolton his Elements of Armories‎^[1], London: George Eld, page 95:

     They are all parted per pale, or (to vſe Scohier's word, mi-partie, that is, parted longwiſe in the midſt, or perpendicularly parted, but yet ſeuerally affected in the partings […]]

   • 1871 April 15, D. P., “New German flag”, in Notes and Queries‎^[2], volume 7, number 172, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →DOI, page 323:

     The extreme uncertainty of engraving the horizontal line of division in shields makes it quite reasonable to suppose the division which we see in Panwitz to have been made to look mi-parti in error.

   • 1980, Stella Mary Newton, “VIII: Livery and the Dress of the Poor”, in Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince: A Study of the Years 1340-1365‎^[3], Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 67:

     Almost all the indoor servants were given three ells of coloured shortcloth, together with three ells of striped cloth for their suits, which must have been, therefore, mi-parti.

Noun

mi-parti (countable and uncountable, plural mi-partis)

1. (chiefly historical, rare) A garment vertically divided into two distinctly-coloured or patterned halves.
   • 1987 May 5, Roe R. Adams III, Wizardry: The Return of Werdna - The Fourth Scenario, Ogdensburg, New York: Sir-Tech Software, Inc., Apple II, level/area: floor B11:

     All the colors of the Universe radiate off the walls and floor of this room. The being here is dressed in a miparti...

   • 2020 January 31, Nada Hélou, “Notes on Donor Images in the Churches of Lebanon”, in Balázs Major, Denys Pringle, Peter Edbury, editors, Bridge of Civilizations: The Near East and Europe C. 1100–1300‎^[4], Archaeopress Publishing Limited, →ISBN, page 239:

     It was certainly of western origin, but had also been adopted in the East; and whereas in the West the mi-parti had by the middle of the thirteenth century become the clothing of servants and squires, in the East it was instead worn by wealthy people […]

   • 2020 October 27, “Chapter Nine”, in Andrzej Sapkowski, translated by David French, The Tower of Fools‎^[5], London: Gollancz, →ISBN, page 139:

     'Correct,' echoed the third fop, in red and blue mi-parti. 'To begin with, we'll tan the hide of that peasant in the European style. Come on, gentlemen, your canes! And may none of us shirk!