Definition
nounA rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
nounA rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger., 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.
Sentence Examples
She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
The company is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"But on the horizon's verge descried,
Hangs, touched with light, one snowy sail."
— 1852, Matthew Arnold, Stanzas from Carnac:
"It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by."
— 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
"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:
"The tremendous tragedy in which he had been involved – it was evident he was a fugitive from Weybridge - had driven him to the very verge of his reason."
— 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 113: