verge

Meaning

1. A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
2. A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
3. An edge or border.
4. An edge or border.
5. An edge or border.
6. (obsolete) The phallus.
7. (obsolete) The phallus.
8. An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
9. A circumference; a circle; a ring.
10. The shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft.
11. The eaves or edge of the roof that projects over the gable of a roof.
12. The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.

edge

verge of a road

sound like

touch at

verge on

edge water

arris

gableboard

vergeboard

fringe water

shoulder of road

side of the road

central spindle

abutment

margin, rand, brim, border

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/vɜːd͡ʒ/

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." Doublet of virga.

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