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I
VERGE.
abyss. i7«o Ghav Lcl. to Ulinrlon j2 June, You 5ee him
[i, e. Sterne] often tottering on the verge of laughter.
1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. w. viii. 276 The fortunes
of Hyder tottered on the verge of a precipice. 1849 Sir I.
Graham in Parker Life \ Lett. (1907) II. iv. 86 He is now
tottering on the verge of the grave. 1861 Sir G. Trevelyan
Horace at Athem iii. (1862) 39 We still consume. .Veal
that is tottering on the verge of beef.
b. The margin of ^ river or the sea. Also without
const.
1606 SvLVEsTFR Du Harias It. iv, Tropheis 1157 The
flowry Verge that iongst ail Jordan lies. 1614 Gorges
Lucanx, 26 Where the Tarbellians bound at large A calmetl
sea, with croolced varge. 1634 Capt. Smith i''irginia iv,
II I Vpon the verge of the Riuer there are hue houses. 1814
Scott Ld. 0/ Isles v. vii, The leaders unge Their followers to
the ocean verge. 185s Macaulav Hist. Eng. xii. III. ,65
There, at length, on the verge of the ocean,.. the imperi.-i'l
race turned desperately to bay. 1878 Susan Phillips On
Seaboard 81 What do they [sc. ships] bring to us? who..
Sport by the verge and gather rosy shells,
fis- 1843 Neale Hymns/or Sick 23 And when I tread the
utmost verge Do Thou divide the flood.
o, poet. The horizon.
182a BvRON Heav. f, Earth I. iii. Their brazen-colour'd
edges streak The verge where brighter morns were wont to
break. 1847 Tennvsom Princ. vii. 23 She.. sees a great
black cloud ., Blot out the slope of sea from verge to shore,
16, With a and pi, A limit or bound ; a limiting
or bounding belt or strip. Somewhat rare.
1660 H. .More .\tyst. Gadl. i. 16 Within the narrow verges
of this mortal life. 16*7 Milton P. L. \i. 877 Serve they as
a flourie verge to binde The fluid skirts of that same watrie
Cloud? 1790 Trans. Sac. Arts VIII. 6 A lerge, six yards
broad, on two sides, is tilled with a variety of Forest.trees.
1851 Meredith Death of Winter 19 He melts between the
border sheen And leaps the tlowery verges. 1852 Wiggins
Embanking 136 Such pasturable verges or gr.issy fringes as
have already been subject to acts of ownership.
b. spec. A narrow grass edging separating a
flower border, etc., from a gravel walk.
1738 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Grass-flot, The Quarters, or
Verges, are to be prepared with. .Earth to lay the Turf on.
1731 Miller Carrf. Diet., Verge. .'m Gardening, .is generally
understood to be a Slip of Grass which joyns to Gravel
Walks, and divides them from the Borders in the Parterre
Garden. 1858 Glenny Card. Everyday Bk. 71/1 The
verges of green turf, so apt to encroach upon the gravel,
walks and inwurdly upon the beds.
attrib. and Comb. iSaa LouooN Encycl. Card. 5 617 Verge-
Shears. .areasmaller variety, in which the blades are joined
to the handles by kneed shanks, to lessen stooping in the
operator. They are chiefly used for trimming the sides of
box-edgings [ed. 1824 adds and grass-verges]. i88z Garden
28 Jan. 65/1 Verge cutting and levelling of turf.
17. The brink or border ^something towards
which there is progress or tendency (from without)
the point at which something begins. Usually iii
the phrases on or to the verge of.
Various types of context are illustrated by the different
groups of quotations.
ia) i6oa .Marston Aiit. t, Met. Induct., I will.. ding his
spirit to the verge of hell. 1718 Pope [liadxw 14 His senses
wandering to the verge of death. 1740 Smollett Regie, iv.
ii. But let us seize him on the verge of bliss. 1791 Cowper
llicui V. 787 Sheer into his bone He pierced him, but . .Jove
Him rescued even on the verge of fate. i8ao Scott' Abbot
xiii, Her maternal fondness for her grandson . . carried almost
to the verge of dotage. 184s J. PAdie Exp. Jonah v. 88
He seems to have been driven to the very verge of despair.
a i8S9 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. (i86i) V. 5 Spencer. . was
more than once brought to the verge of ruin by his violent
temper. 1884 L'pool Mercury 22 Oct. 5/4 He was jealous
and volatile to the verge of insanity.
(*) .'754 Johnson Let. to Chesterfield 7 Feb., I have been
pushing on my work . . and have brought it, at last,to the verge
of publication. 177a Shrubsole & Denne Hist. Rochester
35 The nation seemed on the verge of a civil war. 1848
W. H. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten V. I. 599 A generous
city, driven to the verge of revolt. 1851 Robertson Serm.
.Ser. II. xi. (1864I 145 Such men tread, .on the very verge of
a confession. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann, Q. Neigkb. xxiv,
I had driven Catherine Weir to the verge of suicide.
fc) 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. § 121, 1 was now upon the
verge of the proper se.^son for action. 187* Mozley Univ.
Sernt. V. (ed. 2) 107 Just before death. .his expressions and
signs tipon the verge of that moment awaken our curiosity,
(rf) 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 173 [Thisl
brings us to the verge of modern astronomy. x86a Sir B.
Rrodie Psychol. Imj. II. iv. 138 We are here on the verge
of an inquir>- which has perplexed the greatest philosophers.
ellipt. i8s9 Meredith R. Fcnerel xxxviii, She touched on
delicate verges to the baronet, and he understood her well
enough.
b. With vbl. sbs. On the verge of, on the very
point of (doing something).
i8s8 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 123 He.. reached the
town to find . . the commons and the gentlemen on the verge
of fighting. 1858 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 42 We were on
(he very verge of granting an. .annuity. 1887 [?Mlss
Ingham] Poor Nellie 11888) 91 Twice she was on the verge
of telling all.
18. The space within a boundary ; room, scope.
.\lso const, to OT for.
Chiefly in echoes of quot. 1757.
i6go Dkyden Don .Sebastian I. i, Let fortune empty her
whole quiver on me, I have a Soul, that like an ample
Shield Can take in all : and verge enough for more. 1757
Gray Bard px Give ample room, and verge enough The
characters of bell to trace. 1837 Lockhart Scott II, i. 8
The bard., had ample room and verge enough .. for every
variety of field sport. 1880 Hawthorne Marb. Faun xxiv.
In this vast house . .a great-grandsire and all his descendants
might find ample verge. 1877 ' H. A. Pace ' De Qnincry I.
xiii. 2S3 When numbers of freebooters found ample verge
for their predatory propensities.
b. Jig, ,-md in fig. context.
127
1836 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1852) 338 In no other
country was there so little verge, far less encouragement,
.-il owed to theological speculation. 1863 I). G. Mitchell
/l/^/'C- ^ i -/_ J r. -,, . - . .
culti
act of verging or inclining to or towards some
object, etc.
1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 233 If by this verge to the
otiier extream, I can bring the opinionalive Confident but
half the way. i66a _ A1/.1: 6)r;V«/. xiv. 119 Though they
have had. .their Verges towards the body and its joys, as
well as their Aspires to nobler, .objects.
Verge (vSidg), v,^ Also 7 verdge. [f. Vergk
sb.x^
1 1. trails, a. To provide with a specified kind
of verge or border ; to edge. Chiefly in passive.
Also with about, Obs,
160S J. Rosier in Capt. Smith Virginia (1624) i. 20 An
equall plaine . . verged with a greene border of grasse. i6ai
Markham Prev. Hunger y This Net shall be verdgd 011
each side with very strong Corde. [Hence in later works.]
I6a5— Bk. Hon. ix. x. § 10 Long Mantles.. verdged about
witti a small fringe of siluer. 1708 Ne-.u View 0/ London
I. loi/i The Figures of a Man and a Woman in Brass, and
the Stone verged with Plates of the same.
b. To bound or limit by something. rare~^,
I7S9 Mills tr. DuhamlCs Husb. i. viii. 20 Sending, .for
horse-dung, to manure those very lands which never fail of
being verg'd, or bottom'd, by a substance, .more proper for
the end they aim at.
o. To form the verge or limit of,
1817 Chalmers Astron. Disc. iv. (1830) 132 How to draw
the vigorous land-mark which verges the field of legitimate
discovery,
d. To pass along the verge or edge of; to skirt,
1890 F. Barrett Betw. Life ,5- Death II. xxviii. 179 The
chariot can verge the d.iTs all the way.
2. intr. a. To be contiguous or adjacent to ; to
lie on the verge of. Const, on or upon, along.
1787 G. White Selbome vii, Forests and wastes . . are of
considerable service to neighbourhoods that verge upon
them. iSai Clare Vill. Minstr. 1 1. 37 The air was still i
The blue mi.st, thinly scatterd round, Verg'd along the
distant hill. 1858 Hawthorne Er. f, It. Note-Bks. (1872)
I. II The Place de la Concorde. ., verging on which is the
Champs Elys^s.
b. To border on or upon some state, condition,
etc. (Cf. Verge v.^ 3.)
i8«s [see Vergencv ']. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. vii.
(1842) 197 Mercury or zinc require one [sc. a temperature)
verging upon, or even surpassing, a red heat. 1853 C.
Bkonte Villelte xviii. Your generosity must have verged
on extravagance. 1874 H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. v. § 3.
352 Philo, however, verges on allowing the Aoyot to be the
centre of the personality of God.
Jig. tS4z Tkosysou Gardener's Dau. yt Vague desires .
made. .all kinds of thought, That verged upon them,
sweeter than the dream [etc.].
3. To rise up so as to show the edge, rare—^,
',7f*-4«
I'hovson IVinteriii Wish'd Spring returns ; and
..I he welcome ,sun, just verging up at first, By small '
degrees extends the swelling curve !
Hence VeTging pp/. a, I
1796 W. H. Marshall (f. England I. 165 Wild Deer I
"
were found very injurious to the verging crops.
Verge (vSjd^), j/.n [ad. L, verg/re to bend,
incline, turn, Cf. Converge v., Diverge v.] >
1. inir. Of the sun : To descend toward the
horizon ; to sink, or begin to do so. Also transf. \
iSio G. Fletcher Christ's Tr. 11. xxv. Yet when he (the
sun] verges, or is hardly ris, She [the moon) the vive image
of her absent brother is. i8as Scott Talism. iii. The light
was now verging low, yet served the knight still to discern
that they two were no longer alone in the forest. 189a R
Bridges Indolence Poems (1912) 270 The summer day Had
verged already on its hot decline,
2. To move in a certain direction (esp. downwards)
; also, to extend or stretch,
a 1661 Fuller Horlhies,Somersct{x6(r2) 32 Henceforward
the Sun of the Kings cause declined, verging more and
more Westward, till at last it set in Cornwal. 173a Pope
Ess. Man 1. 59 So Man. .Touches some wheel, or verges to
.some goal. 177s S. J. Pratt LiberalOpin, cv. (1783) IV. 6
A tear, .still upon the back of my hand, verging to the very
finger that (etc.). Ibid, cxxvi. 149 The higher we climb.
the nearer to the gods . . : as we verge towards earth . . we con.
volve with the dirt. 1797 Monthly Mag, III. 513/1 Verge
not downwards, a precipice lies under the earth. z8aa ' B.
Cornwall' Misc. Poems, Halt of Eblis, The pUiars.,
verged away In long innumerable avenues. 1886 Mrs.
HUNCERIORD Lady Branksmere i. Towards this rather
dilapidated apartment they always verge when perplexed.
Jig. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 430 Learning, once the man's
exclusive pride. Seems verging fast towards the female side.
b. To diverge or deflect ; to run or trickle off.
169a Bentley Boyle Led. 215 The Epicurean theory, of
atoms descending down an infinite space . . and verging from
the perpendicular no body knows why. 1780 S. J. Pratt
Einnia Corbett (ed. 4) II. 74 The tear had verged ofl;
possibly woile he was bowing.
3. To incline or tend, to approach or draw near,
towards or to some state or condition. Also with
advb. complement. (Cf. Verge w.i 2 b.)
(