verge

¹verge

noun \ˈvərj\

Definition of VERGE

1

a (1) : a rod or staff carried as an emblem of authority or symbol of office (2) obsolete : a stick or wand held by a person being admitted to tenancy while he swears fealty

b : the spindle of a watch balance; especially : a spindle with pallets in an old vertical escapement

c : the male copulatory organ of any of various invertebrates

2

a : something that borders, limits, or bounds: as (1) : an outer margin of an object or structural part (2) : the edge of roof covering (as tiling) projecting over the gable of a roof (3) British : a paved or planted strip of land at the edge of a road : shoulder

b : brink, threshold <a country on the verge of destruction — Archibald MacLeish>

Examples of VERGE

1. <the suspect was on the verge of confessing when the officers realized that he hadn't been read his rights>
2. <the southern verge of the national park>

Origin of VERGE

Middle English, rod, measuring rod, margin, from Anglo-French, rod, area of jurisdiction, from Latin virga twig, rod, line

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to VERGE

Synonyms

brink, cusp, edge, threshold, point

Related Words

nick

Near Antonyms

center, core, heart; inner, inside, interior, middle, within

Rhymes with VERGE

dirge, merge, purge, scourge, serge, splurge, spurge, surge, urge

²verge

intransitive verb

vergedverg·ing

Definition of VERGE

1

: to be contiguous

2

: to be on the verge or border <the line where sentiment verges on mawkishness — Thomas Hardy>

First Known Use of VERGE

1787

³verge

intransitive verb

vergedverg·ing

Definition of VERGE

1

a of the sun : to move or tend toward the horizon : sink

b : to move or extend in some direction or toward some condition <verging to a hasty decline — Edward Gibbon>

2

: to be in transition or change

Origin of VERGE

Latin vergere to bend, incline — more at wrench

First Known Use: 1610

verge

   (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of VERGE

—see anal verge