Join free

verge

English · Français · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

verge¹

  • /vɜːd͡ʒ/ Australia, UK
  • /vɝd͡ʒ/ Canada, US
  • /ˈvøːd͡ʒ/ New Zealand, Wales
  • /ˈvɛɾd͡ʒ/ Scotland
  • /veːd͡ʒ/
  • /vɛːd͡ʒ/

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

Where it comes from

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.

noun verges

  1. A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. figuratively An extreme limit beyond which something specific will happen. I was on the verge of tears.
  6. obsolete The phallus.
  7. obsolete The external male organ of certain mollusks, worms, etc.
  8. An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
  9. A circumference; a circle; a ring. The inclusive verge Of golden metal that must round my brow.
  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. The smaller ribs of tiles that run down to the eaves, along the ridges in a hip-roof, or border the verge in a gable-roof , often terminate in some ornamental tile in high-relief .
  12. The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.

Similar: berm, besidewalk, boulevard, boulevard strip, city easement, common, county strip, curb lawn, curb strip, devil strip/devil's strip/devilstrip, drivestrip/drive strip, easement, extension lawn, furniture zone, grass bay, grassplot, hellstrip, island strip, landscape zone, long acre, median, mow strip, nature strip, neutral ground, parking, parking strip, parkrow, parkstrip/park strip, parkway, parkway strip

verge²

  • /vɜːd͡ʒ/ Australia, UK
  • /vɝd͡ʒ/ Canada, US
  • /ˈvøːd͡ʒ/ New Zealand, Wales
  • /ˈvɛɾd͡ʒ/ Scotland
  • /veːd͡ʒ/
  • /vɛːd͡ʒ/

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

Where it comes from

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

verb verges · verging · 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.

Verge³

proper noun Verges

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sceptre, threshold, wand, brink, scepter, eve, attendant, item, concept, bankruptcy, point, marginalization, periphery, vigil, paragraph, extent

noun

Similar: berm, besidewalk, boulevard, boulevard strip, city easement, common, county strip, curb lawn, curb strip, devil strip/devil's strip/devilstrip, drivestrip/drive strip, easement, extension lawn, furniture zone, grass bay, grassplot, hellstrip, island strip, landscape zone, long acre, median, mow strip, nature strip, neutral ground, parking, parking strip, parkrow, parkstrip/park strip, parkway, parkway strip

Translations

Every language

noun rod or staff of office

中文權杖 /权杖 quánzhàng
Русскийжезл žezl, по́сох pósox

noun edge or border

Españolarcén, borde
中文邊 /边 biān, 邊緣 /边缘 biānyuán
Portuguêsbeira, beirada
DeutschRand
Русскийгрань granʹ, край kraj, грани́ца graníca, рубе́ж rubéž

noun grassy area between the sidewalk and the street

Portuguêsorla
Françaisaccotement
DeutschSeitenstreifen
Русскийобо́чина obóčina
Tiếng Việtven (đường)

noun extreme limit

Españolborde, a punto, a un paso
中文邊際 /边际 biānjì, 界限 jièxiàn
Portuguêsbeira
DeutschRand, äußerster Rand
Русскийгрань granʹ

verb to come very close

Españolrayar en, rozarse con
中文接近 jiējìn, 瀕臨 /濒临 bīnlín, 近乎 jìnhū
Portuguêsbeirar
Françaisfrôler
Deutschgrenzen an, streifen an
Русскийграни́чить с graníčitʹ s

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"verge." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/verge. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

verge. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/verge

Chicago

"verge." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/verge.

BibTeX
@misc{verge_2026,
  title = {verge},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/verge},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}