edge
/ɛdʒ
/noun
1The outside limit of an object, area, or surface: a willow tree at the water’s edge she perched on the edge of a desk...
- I found a tree toward the edges of the outside area, and sat cross-legged, before unzipping my guitar bag.
- The trim was stitched close to the inside edge then the outside edge.
- The road direct from Middleton is steep and narrow, with the road surface breaking away at the edges due to water erosion in places.
Synonyms
border, boundary, extremity, fringe;
margin, side, lip, rim, brim, brink, verge;
perimeter, circumference, periphery, contour, outline;
limit, limits, outer limit, bound, bounds
literary marge, bourn, skirt
1.1An area next to a steep drop: the cliff edge...
- On the third morning of his trek across the mountains, he found himself on the edge of a steep cliff, with a drop of several hundred feet before him.
- She took one last look over her shoulder at the building before dropping off the edge off the cliff into the water below.
- Standing on the edge of cliffs that drop suddenly, it's easy to imagine that this is the world's brink.
1.2 [in singular] The point immediately before something unpleasant or momentous occurs: the economy was teetering on the edge of recession...
- The speed and tension of city life has him at the edge of psychosis: something has to give, there has to be a safety valve.
- It's partly the strained atmosphere in Japan at this moment, with the whole nation poised on the edge of a financial crash.
- We never learn from our mistakes and we are all, at any moment, standing at the edge of chaos.
2The sharpened side of the blade of a cutting implement or weapon: a knife with a razor-sharp edge...
- The knife has been described as having a six or seven-inch blade with a jagged edge down one side only.
- That means they can be used on the edges of razor blades for a smoother cut.
- Circular blades formed blade breakers on either side of the flare, their outer edges sharpened.
2.1 [in singular] An intense, sharp, or striking quality: a flamenco singer brings a primitive edge to the music there was an edge of menace in his voice...
- Comedy or satire has to be slightly nasty, have a sharp edge to it.
- For all his charm, his generosity, that deep, rasping cackle that rumbles through his conversation, he has a sharp edge.
- The Frenchman, still wearing the No 7 from his Manchester United heyday, has charisma but also an edge of menace.
Synonyms
sharpness, severity, bite, sting, pointedness, asperity, pungency, mordancy, acerbity, acidity, tartness, trenchancy;
sarcasm, acrimony, malice, spite, venom
rare causticity, mordacity
3 [in singular] A quality or factor which gives superiority over close rivals: his cars have the edge over his rivals'...
- He is expected to have the edge over his three rivals.
- Concrete reasoning gives you the edge over your peers and rivals.
- We are constantly looking for improvements that will give us the edge over our competition.
Synonyms
advantage, lead, head, head start, trump card, the whip hand;
superiority, the upper hand, dominance, ascendancy, supremacy, primacy, precedence, power, mastery, control, sway, authority
North American informal the catbird seat
Australian/New Zealand informal the box seat
4The line along which two surfaces of a solid meet.The epidermis then spreads around the embryo until its edges finally meet along the ventral midline....
- Also, the border plates that make up the periphery of the shells have jagged outer edges.
- Another of the carpenters sat smoothing the ragged edges with a patch piece sitting near by.
verb [with object]
1Provide with a border or edge: the pool is edged with paving...
- A smooth border edges the mainspring housing and front of the grip strap to reduce drag and snag when carried concealed under.
- Raffael offers a partial view of a pool edged by rocks with brush hanging over the water.
- In addition, the borders surrounding the central lawn are edged with one-foot squares of flagstone.
Synonyms
border, fringe, rim, verge, skirt, be alongside;
surround, enclose, encircle, circle, encompass, bound, line, flank
trim, pipe, band, decorate, finish;
border, fringe;
bind, hem
2 [with adverbial of direction] Move or cause to move gradually or furtively in a particular direction: [no object]: she tried to edge away from him [with object]: Hazel quietly edged him away from the others...
- Traffic was blocked for a few minutes, until a woman in an SUV edged her way through and shouted her displeasure.
- The vast open landscape and the sheer enormity of the view triggered panic as I edged my way down, but at the same time took my breath away.
- A great cloud of fishy, chippy steam rushed out to welcome me and I edged my way in to find the place packed with people waiting for hot, fresh food.
Synonyms
creep, inch (one's way), worm (one's way), work (one's way), pick one's way, nose (one's way), ease (oneself), ease (one's way), advance slowly;
advance stealthily, sidle, steal, slink
3Give an intense or sharp quality to: the bitterness that edged her voice...
- ‘The next shot won't miss,’ she assured him, malice edging her voice.
- ‘You are slightly late for once,’ he said, sarcasm edging his voice.
- ‘I think… I think that they are going to execute Darrius,’ she responded, worry edging her voice.
4 Cricket Strike (the ball) with the edge of the bat; strike a ball delivered by (the bowler) with the edge of the bat: he edged a ball into his pad [no object]: Haynes edged to slip...
- On came Ian Botham, and Thomson edged his first ball head-high to second slip.
- Vic Craven edged a ball on to his stumps to make the former England star only the fifth bowler currently playing anywhere in the world to have joined the elite club.
- Australia were back in the hunt, and thought they had another, when Pietersen appeared to edge his first ball off Lee.
5 [no object] Ski with one’s weight on the edges of one’s skis: you will be edging early, controlling a parallel turn...
- Although it seems like skating uphill requires more edging, more pushing back and lots of grunting, focus on forward motion of your core and maximizing glide.
Phrases
on edge
on the edge of one's seat
set someone's teeth on edge
take the edge off
Phrasal verbs
edge someone out
Derivatives
edgeless
/ adjective ...- Richard's various "swords," of both force and fraud, are hardly edgeless early in the play.
- Edgeless sides allow you to slide cookies off pan onto cooling rack easily.
edger
/ noun ...- Weed trimmers, lawn edgers and those things I hate the most - leaf blowers - have become staples in many Canadian garages.
- Whenever I visited, he showed off his project for the week, such as an old lawn edger rescued from the neighbor's trash.
- Smaller cultivars can be used as edgers and foreground plants, while the larger daylily cultivars can be used in background plantings, as accents, or in front of tall hardscape elements such as fences and decks.
Origin
Old English ecg 'sharpened side of a blade', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch egge and German Ecke, also to Old Norse eggja (see egg2), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin acies 'edge' and Greek akis 'point'.