middle vs middling

middle

noun
  • The middle voice. 

  • A centre, midpoint. 

  • The part between the beginning and the end. 

  • The middle stump. 

  • The central part of a human body; the waist. 

adj
  • Pertaining to the middle voice. 

  • Located in the middle; in between. 

  • Central. 

middling

noun
  • Preceded by the: people of moderate means; members of the middle class. 

  • Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality. 

adv
  • Fairly, moderately, somewhat. 

  • Not too badly, with modest success. 

adj
  • In fairly good health. 

  • Of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre. 

How often have the words middle and middling occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )