middle passage

American

Or Middle Passage

noun

History/Historical.

the part of the Atlantic Ocean between the west coast of Africa and the West Indies: the longest part of the journey formerly made by slave ships.

middle passage British

noun

history the journey across the Atlantic Ocean from the W coast of Africa to the Caribbean: the longest part of the journey of the slave ships sailing to the Caribbean or the Americas

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of middle passage

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The analysis illuminates one of the most confounding aspects of “Beloved”: the character called Beloved is the ghost of the murdered daughter and also of an unknown soul who died in the Middle Passage.

From The Wall Street Journal

They rebelled against crews on approximately 10% of Middle Passage voyages.

From The Wall Street Journal

Only about 10 million people survived those brutal journeys, which came to be known as the Middle Passage.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Middle Passage refers to the forced voyage of people from Africa to the Americas, where they would be made to work in horrendous conditions and held in bondage for the rest of their lives.

From Literature

It will never be accurately known how many people were kidnapped via the Middle Passage and sold into slavery.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023