verge

[Bailey]

verge 1 (vûrj)
n.
1. The extreme edge or margin; a border. See Synonyms at border.
2.
a. An enclosing boundary.
b. The space enclosed by such a boundary.
3. The point beyond which an action, state, or condition is likely to begin or occur; the brink: on the verge of tears; a nation on the verge of economic prosperity.
4. Architecture The edge of the tiling that projects over a roof gable.
5. Chiefly British The shoulder of a road.
6. A rod, wand, or staff carried as an emblem of authority or office.
7. Obsolete The rod held by a feudal tenant while swearing fealty to a lord.
8. The spindle of a balance wheel in a clock or watch, especially such a spindle in a clock with vertical escapement.
9. The male organ of copulation in certain invertebrates.
intr.v. verged, verg·ing, verg·es
1. To approach the nature or condition of something specified; come close. Used with on: a brilliance verging on genius.
2. To be on the edge or border: Her land verges on the neighboring township.



[Middle English, from Old French, rod, ring, from Latin virga, rod, strip.]

verge 2 (vûrj)
intr.v. verged, verg·ing, verg·es
1. To slope or incline.
2. To tend to move in a particular direction: "the Neoclassicism ... away from which they subsequently verged" Hugh Honour.
3. To pass or merge gradually: dusk verging into night.



[Latin vergere; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

mark I-live-in-a-verge-neighborhood Bailey

[Perry]

I had no idea about 7,8,9. Thanks for that. I am now on the verge of becoming more erudite.

[gailr]

I took our verger at face value: the "master of ceremonies".
Until cheerfully informing us that the office was originally instated "to beat animals and peasants away from the procession".

-gailr
who would have been a peasant in the midle ages, so no further comment needed...

[Grogie]

Thanks Bailey. I didn,t know the word had so many definitions.