mergen.
/məːdʒ/, U.S. /mərdʒ/ 1. An act or instance of merging; a merger.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > incorporation or inclusion > assimilation or absorption > [noun] > act or instance of
merge1806
merger1881
society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > merger
merger1851
integration1894
merge1905
marriage1909
horizontal combination1927
M & A1989
1806 J. Foster Essays (ed. 2) I. i. vii. 101 In him it was no debility of reason, it was at the utmost but a merge of it.
1905 Pall Mall Gaz. 24 Apr. 3/2 The first barony of Pelham..merged in the Dukedom of Newcastle... The ‘merges’ of the 1611 baronetcy, Pelham of Laughton, have been many.
1935 S. Spender Destructive Elem. 179 And Death! Which is the final merge.
1989 Word Ways 22 211 The OSPD list and the phrases could be merged directly into the word stock. I accomplished each of these merges in a single evening.
2. spec. Originally North American. An instance of traffic merging (see merge v. 5), esp. as a result of lanes or roads combining. Also: the point at which this happens.See also zipper merge at zipper n. Compounds 2.
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1956 Proceedings (Inst. Traffic Engineers) 96 At volumes of up to 7,000 [vehicles], the merge works smoothly.
1994 Common Ground: News & Views PEI Women Aug. 25/3 I approached the next ‘merge’ from eight lanes to four to one across the bridge.
2007 Associated Press State & Local Wire (Nexis) 28 Nov. The state Department of Transportation says the new lane will ease the merge of traffic from I-465 onto northbound I-65.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
mergev.
/məːdʒ/, U.S. /mərdʒ/ a. transitive. To immerse or plunge (a person, esp. oneself) in a specified activity, way of life, environment, etc. Obsolete.
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the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > occupy or engage (a person) [verb (transitive)] > have to do with or be involved in or with > involve in something > deeply
plunge?c1400
deepa1542
immerge1611
merge1636
immerse1664
1636 W. Prynne Unbishoping of Timothy & Titus 134 Those Bishops who merge themselves in pleasures, idlenesse, or secular affaires.
1637 W. Prynne Breviate Prelates Usurp. (ed. 3) 64 Thomas Woolsie..wholly merged himselfe in secular offices and state affairs.
1751 J. Harris Hermes iii. iv. 350 The Vulgar merged in Sense from their earliest Infancy..imagine nothing to be real, but what may be tasted or touched.
b. transitive. To immerse or plunge in a liquid; to submerge. Obsolete.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > causing to come or go down > cause to come or go down [verb (transitive)] > dip or plunge into liquid
depec950
bedipc1000
dipc1000
dibc1325
indip1596
demergec1610
immerse1613
ensteepa1616
immerge1617
merge1660
demerse1662
1660 S. Pordage tr. Seneca Troades iii. ii. 25 Shall's ashes merged be? his Tomb pull'd down? Shall I let's bones into the Sea be thrown?
1866 J. M. Neale Hymns Paradise (ed. 2) 30 All his spite the Tempter urges; Casts in fire, in water merges [L. aquis mergit].
1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid Fasti v. 754 So Tiber said, And in his grotto merged his dripping head.
2.
a. intransitive. Originally (Law): to be incorporated or embodied in a greater title, estate, etc. Subsequently gen.: to be absorbed and disappear, to lose character or identity by absorption into something else; to join or blend, esp. gradually; to combine, amalgamate. Frequently with with; formerly also often with in, into.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > [verb (intransitive)] > of title: become absorbed
merge1726
immerge1750
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > invisibility > be or become invisible [verb (intransitive)] > vanish or disappear
formeltc893
wendOE
witea1000
aworthc1000
fleec1200
fleetc1200
withdraw1297
vanish1303
voidc1374
unkithea1400
startc1405
disappearc1425
disparishc1425
to fall awayc1443
evanish?a1475
vade1495
sinka1500
vade1530
fly1535
fadea1538
melt?1567
dispear1600
relinquish1601
foist1603
dispersea1616
to vanish (melt, etc.) into thin aira1616
dissipate1626
retire1647
evaporate1713
merge1802
illude1820
to foam off1826
dislimn1833
furl1844
to step out1844
evanesce1855
shade1880
wisp1883
to go to the winds1884
walk1898
to do a disappearing act1913
to go west1916
to do (or take) a fade1949
to phase out1970
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > incorporation or inclusion > assimilation or absorption > be assimilated or absorbed [verb (intransitive)]
to run into ——1570
melt1590
assimilate1763
subside1772
merge1802
inosculate1836
liquesce1920
1726 Cases High Court Chancery I. 22 If a Copyholder pays a Rent to the Lord, and the Lord grants or releases this Rent to his Tenant, this shall Merge in the Copyhold.
1743 H. Fielding Journey from this World xx, in Misc. II. 166 She..threw in my teeth..that she was now a Queen, and that the Character and Title of Father merged in that of Subject.
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. xii. 186 If an estate is originally limited to two for life, and after to the heirs of one of them, the freehold shall remain in jointure, without merging in the inheritance.
1802 W. Scott Substance of Speech 27 He [sc. the parish clergyman] is to take care..that the ecclesiastic shall not merge in the farmer, but shall continue the presiding and predominating character.
1814 T. Chalmers Evid. Christian Revelation v. 128 The Jews..merge into the name and distinction of Christians.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary III. iv. 72 Should they have a son, my right over Glenallan merges.
a1825 A. L. Barbauld Eternity in Wks. (1825) I. 230 That devouring gulf..where seasons, months and years..All merge, and are forgotten.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 13 Serfdom had merged or was rapidly merging into free servitude.
1894 Times 16 Apr. 3/3 That was..an indication that the cause of action had not merged.
1947 J. Steinbeck Pearl iii. 35 The music of the pearl had merged with the music of the family so that one beautified the other.
1961 J. Carew Last Barbarian 269 The people were shadows merging with the gloom.
1987 M. Flanagan Trust xxvi. 261 I stood..watching the colours..merge like the ingredients in a batter.
b. transitive. Originally in Law: to cause to be incorporated, absorbed, or amalgamated. Frequently with with, †in, †into (something else).
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society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > [verb (transitive)] > absorb title in greater
merge1728
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > incorporation or inclusion > assimilation or absorption > assimilate or absorb [verb (transitive)] > cause or allow to become assimilated or absorbed
sink1776
merge1791
1728 T. Vernon Chancery Cases II. 90 The Plaintiff..insisted that the Term was merged in the Daughter, as being also Heir at Law. The Court upon the Hearing relieved against the Merger.
1729 G. Jacob New Law-dict. at Merger Where a Man hath a Term in his own Right, and the Inheritance descends to his Wife, so as he hath a Freehold in her Right; the Term is not merged or drowned.
1791 E. Burke Let. to Member Nat. Assembly in Wks. (1792) III. 346 Their object is to merge all natural and all social sentiment in inordinate vanity.
1809 N. Pinkney Trav. South of France 202 The ornaments may..lose their own effect by being attached to a building which, by exciting stronger emotions, necessarily merges the less.
1848 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 2) II. 50 The contract by specialty merges or extinguishes that by parol.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. vii. 81 These shelves, though sometimes merged into each other, presented distinct and recognisable embankments.
1868 A. P. Stanley Hist. Mem. Westm. Abbey (ed. 2) vi. 447 The diocese, after ten years, was merged in the See of London.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People ii. §3. 68 The same forces which merged the Dane in the Englishman.
1911 L. Cohen Reminisc. Kimberley xxii. 393 The mother tongue had merged itself into what is called the Taal.
1957 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples III. viii. iii. 104 The war between Britain and Spain, which the Opposition had forced upon Walpole, was soon merged in a general European struggle.
1979 B. Bainbridge Another Part of Wood viii. 151 His face was a mess. The stings [sic] and constellations of pimples were merged.
3. Chiefly Business.
a. transitive. To cause (separate components, esp. commercial organizations) to combine to form a single entity; to combine (one company, institution, etc.) with another.
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1836 W. Irving Astoria I. ii. 31 He bought out the Mackinaw Company, and merged that and the American Fur Company into a new association.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 491/2 The towns of Daraga..and Legaspi..were merged with Albay.
1944 Fortune Mar. 228/2 The stock of Imperial and British Airways was acquired, and the two companies were merged into BOAC.
1963 Communications ACM 6 266/2 The tape merging program initially determines an optimum number of merge passes for merging the sorted files produced by the sort program.
1970 Guardian 26 Jan. 10/3 Locally, institutions should be merged to form new, comprehensive centres of higher education.
1993 Macworld Dec. 161/1 In DataMerge, merging databases involves specifying the input files and then selecting the fields that you want to be written to the output file.
b. intransitive. Of two or more distinct bodies, esp. commercial organizations: to combine to form a single entity; to amalgamate, fuse. Of a single company, institution, etc.: to combine with another.
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society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > run a business [verb (intransitive)] > merge
merge1926
1841 J. R. Young Math Diss. ii. 37 These roots can never merge into one and coincide.
1926 Office Appliances Feb. 49/1 With regard to merger reports..two propositions had been received—one to sell out; the other to merge with another company.
1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement ii. 54 That's the way things are going all the time now,..big combinations—merging away till you don't know where you are.
1965 J. F. Bradley Admin. Financial Managem. xxviii. 577 If Company A and Company B are to merge, Company A might take over Company B.
1988 M. Spark Far Cry from Kensington vi. 79 Mackintosh & Tooley merged and moved in with another publisher.
4. intransitive. To change by degrees into.Often hard to distinguish from sense 2a.
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1849 H. Melville Redburn lviii. 361 On the sixth morning, the weather merged into a gale.
1920 D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl ix. 211 It was not till the second week had passed that her excitement began to merge into irritation.
1979 R. Gillespie Crossword Myst. i. 17 He..executed a few soft-shoe steps which merged into a strut.
1992 Independent 23 Mar. 23/1 The series of faces merging into one another in Jackson's Black and White video.
5. intransitive. Originally North American. Of traffic: to begin forming fewer lines, or one single line, esp. as a result of lanes or roads combining; (of traffic lanes) to combine in this way. Of a motor vehicle in this situation: to move from one lane into a gap in the traffic in another lane. Also transitive: to cause (motor vehicles or traffic) to combine in this way.Cf. zipper n. Compounds 2.
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1924 Architect & Engineer Nov. 104 We must study..the problems of street convergence with a view to merging traffic without confusion.
1970 Linton (Indiana) Daily Citizen 7 July 2/7 Vehicles merging with interstate traffic should do so smoothly at or about the prevailing speed.
1989 Toronto Star (Nexis) 3 Feb. a7 Traffic was merging due to construction when two officers jumped out of their cruiser.
1996 Adv. Driving Milestones Winter 37/2 To avoid the possibility of confrontation at the point where the lanes merge, it is recommended that an early course variation into the lane unaffected by closure is the preferable option.
2018 Sherbrooke (Quebec) Rec. (Nexis) 14 June a2 I'll be a Canadian in New York, letting car after car merge into my lane.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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