verge

n. [ F. verge, L. virga; perhaps akin to E. wisp. ] 1. A rod or staff, carried as an emblem of authority; as, the verge, carried before a dean. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The stick or wand with which persons were formerly admitted tenants, they holding it in the hand, and swearing fealty to the lord. Such tenants were called tenants by the verge. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eng. Law) The compass of the court of Marshalsea and the Palace court, within which the lord steward and the marshal of the king's household had special jurisdiction; -- so called from the verge, or staff, which the marshal bore. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A virgate; a yardland. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A border, limit, or boundary of a space; an edge, margin, or brink of something definite in extent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even though we go to the extreme verge of possibility to invent a supposition favorable to it, the theory . . . implies an absurdity. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

But on the horizon's verge descried,
Hangs, touched with light, one snowy sail. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A circumference; a circle; a ring. [ 1913 Webster ]

The inclusive verge
Of golden metal that must round my brow. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Arch.) (a) The shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft. Oxf. Gloss. (b) The edge of the tiling projecting over the gable of a roof. Encyc. Brit. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Horol.) The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement. See under Escapement. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Hort.) (a) The edge or outside of a bed or border. (b) A slip of grass adjoining gravel walks, and dividing them from the borders in a parterre. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. The penis. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Zool.) The external male organ of certain mollusks, worms, etc. See Illustration in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Border; edge; rim; brim; margin; brink. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]