verges

Noun

verge (plural verges)

1. A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
   1. (UK, 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.
   • Even though we go to the extreme verge of possibility to invent a supposition favourable to it, the theory[…]implies an absurdity.1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy
   1. (Australia, New Zealand, UK, Western) The grassy area between the footpath and the street; a tree lawn; a grassed strip running alongside either side of an outback road.
      • The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock.2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 129
   2. (figuratively) An extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen.
      • I was on the verge of tears.
3. (obsolete) The phallus.

See all 15 meanings of verge