verge
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /vɜːd͡ʒ/
ipa: /vɝd͡ʒ/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ
Forms: form: verges
Etymology: Borrowed 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.
Senses: glosses: A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
glosses: A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
The 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.
examples: text: Even though we go to the extreme verge of possibility to invent a supposition favourable to it, the theory[…]implies an absurdity.
ref: 1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy:
text: But on the horizon's verge descried,
 Hangs, touched with light, one snowy sail.
ref: 1852, Matthew Arnold, Stanzas from Carnac:
text: 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 the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: An edge or border.
examples: text: The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock.
ref: 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 129:
glosses: An edge or border.
The grassy area between the footpath and the street; a tree lawn; a grassed strip running alongside either side of an outback road.
examples: text: I was on the verge of tears.
text: 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.
ref: 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 113:
glosses: An edge or border.
An extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen.
glosses: The phallus.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: The phallus.
The external male organ of certain mollusks, worms, etc.
glosses: An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
examples: text: The inclusive verge
 Of golden metal that must round my brow.
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: A circumference; a circle; a ring.
topics: architecture
glosses: The shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft.
examples: text: 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 .
ref: 1885, Edward S. Morse, Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings:
topics: architecture
glosses: The eaves or edge of the roof that projects over the gable of a roof.
topics: hobbies
horology
lifestyle
glosses: The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.
Synonyms: word: berm
word: besidewalk
word: boulevard
word: boulevard strip
word: city easement
word: common
word: county strip
word: curb lawn
word: curb strip
word: devil strip/devil's strip/devilstrip
word: drivestrip/drive strip
word: easement
word: extension lawn
word: furniture zone
word: grass bay
word: grassplot
word: hellstrip
word: island strip
word: landscape zone
word: long acre
word: median
word: mow strip
word: nature strip
word: neutral ground
word: parking
word: parking strip
word: parkrow
word: parkstrip/park strip
word: parkway
word: parkway strip
word: planter zone
word: planting strip
word: right-of-way
word: road allowance
word: road verge
word: roadside
word: shoulder
word: sidewalk buffer
word: sidewalk lawn
word: sidewalk plot
word: sidewalk strip
word: street lawn
word: subway
word: swale
word: terrace
word: tree belt
word: tree box
word: tree lawn
word: utility strip
word: verge
Derived terms: on the verge
on the verge of
verge escapement
verge staff