Dictionary › V › verge
verge
1 syllableYour browser doesn’t have built-in voices. Try Chrome, Edge or Safari.
As a noun, verge means a rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger. As a verb, it means be or come very close.
Meanings of verge
17 meaningsnoun
A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
An edge or border.
UKAustraliaNew ZealandThe grassy area between the footpath and the street; a tree lawn; a grassed strip running alongside either side of an outback road.
figurativelyAn extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen.
“I was on the verge of tears.”
zoologyThe external male organ of certain mollusks, worms, etc.
An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
A circumference; a circle; a ring.
architectureThe shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft.
architectureThe eaves or edge of the roof that projects over the gable of a roof.
horologyThe spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.
A grass border along a road
Older and rare meanings (2)
UKhistoricalThe 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.
obsoleteThe phallus.
verb
To be or come very close; to border; to approach.
“Eating blowfish verges on insanity.”
To bend or incline; to tend downward; to slope.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).