Edge | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Edge (ēj), n.

noun

n. [A-S. ecg, Icel. & Sw. egg, Dan. eg; O. H. Ger. ekka, N. H. Ger. ecke, edge, corner, angle, allied to Lat. acies, acumen, acus, Gr. ἀκίς, ἀκμή, Skr. agri, edge of sword, W. awch, edge.] 1. The thin, cutting side of the blade of an instrument; as, the edge of an ax, razor, knife, or scythe; hence, that which cuts as an edge does. Slender, Whose edge is sharper than the sword. Shak. 2. Any sharp terminating border; the margin; the brink; as, the edge of a table, a precipice, a book, a cloth. Some harrow their ground over, and then plow it upon an edge. Mortimer. To harass and pursue even to the very edge of destruction. W. Scott. 3. Sharpness; readiness or fitness to cut; keenness; and hence, acrimony, severity. “The full edge of our indignation.” W. Scott. Death and persecution lose all the ill that they can have, if we do not set an edge upon them by our fears and by our vices. Bp. Taylor. 4. The border or part adjacent to the line of division, especially that which is nearest or approaching; the commencement, or early part; beginning; as, in the edge of evening. The new general, unacquainted with his army, and on the edge of winter, would not hastily oppose them. Milton. To set the teeth on edge, to cause a disagreeable tingling sensation in the teeth, caused by bringing acids into contact with them. Bacon.

Edge, v. t.

verbtransitive

(ēj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. EDGED; p. pr. & vb. n. EDGING.] [A-S. ecgan, eggjan, to sharpen.]

Sense 1. To furnish with an edge; to sharpen.

To edge her champion’s sword. Dryden.

It made my sword, though edged with flint, rebound. Dryden.

Sense 2. To furnish with a fringe or border; as, to edge a dress; to edge a garden with box.

A long descending train, With rubies edged. Dryden.

Sense 3. To make sharp or keen; hence, to provoke to action; to incite; to exasperate; to urge or egg on.

By such reasonings, the simple were blinded, and the malicious edged. Hayward.

Sense 4. To move by little and little; to approach slowly or cautiously; as, to edge a chair along.

Ĕdge, v. i.

verbintransitive

(ĕj), v. i. 1. To move sideways; to move gradually; as, edge along this way. 2. To sail close to the wind. “I must edge up on a point of wind.” Dryden. To edge away (Naut.), to increase the distance gradually from the shore, vessel, or other object. — To edge in with, as with a coast or vessel (Naut.), to advance gradually, but not directly toward it. Tollen.