/vɜːd͡ʒ/, /vɝd͡ʒ/
OriginBorrowed from Middle French verge (“rod or wand of office”), hence "scope, territory dominated", from Latin virga (“shoot, rod stick”), of unknown origin. Earliest attested sense in English is now-obsolete meaning "male member, penis" (c.1400). Modern sense is from the notion of 'within the verge' (1509, also as Anglo-Norman dedeinz la verge), i.e. "subject to the Lord High Steward's authority" (as symbolized by the rod of office), originally a 12-mile radius round the royal court, which sense shifted to "the outermost edge of an expanse or area." Doublet of virga.
- A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
- UK, historicalThe stick or wand with which persons were formerly admitted tenants, by holding it in the hand and swearing fealty to the lord. Such tenants were called tenants by the verge.
- An edge or border.
“Even though we go to the extreme verge of possibility to invent a supposition favourable to it, the theory[…]implies an absurdity.”
“But on the horizon's verge descried,
Hangs, touched with light, one snowy sail.”
“It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind t”
- Australia, New-Zealand, UK, WesternThe grassy area between the footpath and the street; a tree lawn; a grassed strip running alongside either side of an outback road.
“The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock.”
- figurativelyAn extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen.
“I was on the verge of tears.”
“The tremendous tragedy in which he had been involved – it was evident he was a fugitive from Weybridge - had driven him to the very verge of his reason.”
- obsoleteThe phallus.
- obsoleteThe external male organ of certain mollusks, worms, etc.
- An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
- A circumference; a circle; a ring.
“The inclusive verge
Of golden metal that must round my brow.”
- The shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft.
- The eaves or edge of the roof that projects over the gable of a roof.
“The smaller ribs of tiles that run down to the eaves, along the ridges in a hip-roof, or border the verge in a gable-roof , often terminate in some ornamental tile in high-relief .”
- The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.
- intransitiveTo be or come very close; to border; to approach.
“Eating blowfish verges on insanity.”
- To bend or incline; to tend downward; to slope.
Formsverges(plural) · verges(present, singular, third-person) · verging(participle, present) · verged(participle, past) · verged(past) · Verges(plural)