Gathered Astaire got sick in the middle (7)

I believe the answer is:

frilled

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'middle' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'gathered astaire got sick' is the wordplay.
'gathered astaire' becomes 'fred' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'got' indicates putting letters inside.
'sick' becomes 'ill' (similar in meaning).
'fred' going around 'ill' is 'FRILLED'.

'in the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for frilled that I've seen is " With ruff".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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