/ English Dictionary

VERGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A grass border along a road

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("verge" is a kind of...):

border (a strip forming the outer edge of something)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The limit beyond which something happens or changes

Example:

on the brink of bankruptcy

Synonyms:

brink; verge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("verge" is a kind of...):

bound; boundary; limit (the greatest possible degree of something)

Derivation:

verge (border on; come close to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A ceremonial or emblematic staff

Synonyms:

scepter; sceptre; verge; wand

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("verge" is a kind of...):

staff (a rod carried as a symbol)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "verge"):

bauble (a mock scepter carried by a court jester)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A region marking a boundary

Synonyms:

brink; threshold; verge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("verge" is a kind of...):

bound; boundary; edge (a line determining the limits of an area)

Derivation:

verge (border on; come close to)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Border on; come close to

Example:

His behavior verges on the criminal

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "verge" is one way to...):

border; bound (form the boundary of; be contiguous to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

verge (the limit beyond which something happens or changes)

verge (a region marking a boundary)

Credits

 Context examples: 

White Fang, on the verge of retreat, would have retreated, leaving the meat to him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

You will allow me, as a private individual, to decline pursuing a subject which has lashed me to the utmost verge of desperation in my professional capacity.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You seem to be on the verge of a major career breakthrough that will be thrilling to experience.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

In the window was a sumptuous writing-desk, and every detail of the apartment, the pictures, the rugs, and the hangings, all pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the verge of effeminacy.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it was, he was already thirty yards behind us and on the verge of strangling when we reached the brow of the slope.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They made signs for me to come down from the rock, and go towards the shore, which I accordingly did; and the flying island being raised to a convenient height, the verge directly over me, a chain was let down from the lowest gallery, with a seat fastened to the bottom, to which I fixed myself, and was drawn up by pulleys.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He was on the verge of clasping it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

You are— I was on the verge of saying, “my woman, my mate,” but glibly changed it to—“standing the hardship well.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Apoplexy. Nervous shock, He’s been on the verge all day. I doubt if we shall find him alive.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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