Verge

English Meaning

A rod or staff, carried as an emblem of authority; as, the verge, carried before a dean.

1. The extreme edge or margin; a border. See Synonyms at border.
2. An enclosing boundary.
3. The space enclosed by such a boundary.
4. 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.
5. Architecture The edge of the tiling that projects over a roof gable.
6. Chiefly British The shoulder of a road.
7. A rod, wand, or staff carried as an emblem of authority or office.
8. Obsolete The rod held by a feudal tenant while swearing fealty to a lord.
9. The spindle of a balance wheel in a clock or watch, especially such a spindle in a clock with vertical escapement.
10. The male organ of copulation in certain invertebrates.
11. To approach the nature or condition of something specified; come close. Used with on: a brilliance verging on genius.
12. To be on the edge or border: Her land verges on the neighboring township.
13. To slope or incline.
14. To tend to move in a particular direction: "the Neoclassicism ... away from which they subsequently verged” ( Hugh Honour).
15. To pass or merge gradually: dusk verging into night.