verge

See also: Verge and vergé

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /vɜːd͡ʒ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /vɝd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

Etymology 1

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."

Noun

verge (plural verges)

  1. A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
    1. (Britain, historical) 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.
  2. An edge or border.
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      Even though we go to the extreme verge of possibility to invent a supposition favourable to it, the theory […] implies an absurdity.
    • Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
      But on the horizon's verge descried, / Hangs, touched with light, one snowy sail.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 048:
      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.
    1. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) The grassy area between the sidewalk and the street; a tree lawn.
    2. (figuratively) An extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen.
      I was on the verge of tears.
  3. (obsolete) The phallus.
    1. (zoology) The external male organ of certain mollusks, worms, etc.
  4. An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
  5. A circumference; a circle; a ring.
  6. (architecture) The shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Oxf. Gloss. to this entry?)
  7. (architecture) The edge of the tiling projecting over the gable of a roof.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Encyc. Brit to this entry?)
  8. (horology) The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.

Synonyms

  • (strip of land between street and sidewalk): see list at tree lawn
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin vergō (“to bend, turn, tend toward, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *werg- (“to turn”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”) (compare versus); strongly influenced by the above noun.

Verb

verge (third-person singular simple present verges, present participle verging, simple past and past participle verged)

  1. (intransitive) To be or come very close; to border; to approach.
    Eating blowfish verges on insanity.
  2. To bend or incline; to tend downward; to slope.
Translations

References

  • “verge” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin virgō, virginem.

Pronunciation

  • (Balearic) IPA(key): /ˈvɛɾ.ʒə/
  • (Central) IPA(key): /ˈbɛr.ʒə/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈvɛɾ.d͡ʒe/

Adjective

verge (masculine and feminine plural verges)

  1. virgin

Noun

verge m, f (plural verges)

  1. virgin

Dutch

Verb

verge

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of vergen

French

Etymology

From Middle French verge (“rod or wand of office”), hence "scope, territory dominated", from Old French verge, virge, from Latin virga (“shoot, rod stick”), of uncertain origin, but probably from a Proto-Indo-European *wisgeh₂ (“flexible rod or stick”). Doublet of vergue.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vɛʁʒ/

Noun

verge f (plural verges)

  1. rod
  2. penis (male sexual organ)

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Friulian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *virdia (a root), from syncopation of Latin viridia, neuter plural of viridis (“green”). Compare Aromanian verdzu, Dalmatian viarz, Italian verza, Portuguese verça, Romanian varză, Spanish berza.

Noun

verge f (plural vergis)

  1. cabbage

Latin

Verb

verge

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of vergō

Middle French

Etymology 1

From Old French verge, virge, from Latin virga.

Noun

verge f (plural verges)

  1. rod; stick; staff
    • Exodus, the Bible
      Moyse ietta en la terre la verge qu'il tenoit dans sa main […] elle fust soudain changé en serpent
      Moses throw on the ground the staff that he held in is hand […] suddenly, it changes into a serpent

Descendants

Etymology 2

From Old French verge, vierge, virge, from virgene, from Latin virginem, accusative of virgō.

Noun

verge f (plural verges)

  1. female virgin (female person who has never had sexual intercourse)

Descendants

Old French

Etymology 1

From a shortening of earlier forms virgine, virgene, from Latin virginem, accusative singular of virgō, possibly a borrowing.

Alternative forms

Noun

verge f (oblique plural verges, nominative singular verge, nominative plural verges)

  1. virgin (one who has never had sex)

Adjective

verge m (oblique and nominative feminine singular verge)

  1. virgin; virginal
Usage notes
  • Often capitalized as la Verge when referring to the Virgin Mary
Descendants

Etymology 2

From Latin virga.

Alternative forms

Noun

verge f (oblique plural verges, nominative singular verge, nominative plural verges)

  1. rod; stick; staff
Descendants
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