margin
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɑːd͡ʒɪn/
ipa: /ˈmɑːɹd͡ʒ(ə)n/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒɪn
Forms: form: margins
Etymology: From Middle English margyn, from Latin marginem (possibly via Old French margin), accusative of margō (“edge, brink, border, margin”). Doublet of marge and margo.
Senses: topics: media
publishing
typography
glosses: The edge of the paper, typically left blank when printing but sometimes used for annotations etc.
examples: text: Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.
ref: 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
text: The lobule margins, furthermore, are arched away from the lobe, with the consequence that (when fully inflated) the abaxial leaf surface forms the interior lining of the lobule.
ref: 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 7:
glosses: The edge or border of any flat surface.
examples: text: As far as space is concerned, Mary Lamb finds herself at the farthest margin of society - among tramps - when the novel begins.
ref: 1999, Pierre François, Inlets of the Soul: Contemporary Fiction in English and the Myth of the Fall, page 186:
glosses: The edge defining inclusion in or exclusion from a set or group.
examples: text: margin of victory
text: Chelsea will point to that victory margin as confirmation of their superiority - but Spurs will complain their hopes of turning the game around were damaged fatally by Atkinson's decision.
ref: 2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC:
text: in Kentucky, for example, Trump beat Hillary Clinton by a nearly two-to-one margin
ref: 2017 March 9, James P. Pinkerton, “A Deus ex Machina for the Climate Change Problem”, in The American Conservative:
glosses: A difference or ratio between results, characteristics, scores.
examples: text: margin of error
glosses: A permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits.
topics: business
finance
glosses: The yield or profit; the selling price minus the cost of production.
examples: text: The purchaser then hands over this margin to the person with whom he hypothecates the Stock.
ref: 1848, William Armstrong, Stocks and Stock-Jobbing in Wall-Street:
text: If you borrow from your broker via trading on margin, you need to add monthly margin interest charges to your trading costs as well.
ref: 2017, Joe Duarte, Trading Options For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 140:
topics: business
finance
glosses: Collateral security deposited with a broker, to compensate the broker in the event of loss in the speculative buying and selling of stocks, commodities, etc.
examples: text: This model merely nips at the margins.
glosses: That which is ancillary; periphery.
examples: text: Red Whortleberry leaves have a crenate margin.
ref: 1878, George Sampson V. Wills, A manual of vegetable materia medica - Issue 359, page 67:
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: The shape of the edge of a leaf.
Derived terms: admarginate
by a wide margin
extensive margin
gross margin
intensive margin
intermargin
maintenance margin
marginable
margin account
margin-call
margin call
margin debt
marginirostral
marginless
margin of error
margin of safety
marginotomy
margin shell
margin trading
net margin
overmargin
palaeomargin
paleomargin
profit margin
remargin
retromargin
safety margin
solvency margin
submargin
undermargin
Related terms: admarginate
marginal
marginalia
marginalization
marginalize