EDGE, n. [L. acies, acus.]

1. In a general sense, the extreme border or point of any thing; as, the edge of the table; the edge of a book; the edge of cloth. It coincides nearly with border, brink, margin. It is particularly applied to the sharp border, the thin cutting extremity of an instrument, as the edge of an ax, razor, knife or scythe; also, to the point of an instrument, as the edge of a sword.
2. Figuratively, that which cuts or penetrates; that which wounds or injures; as, the edge of slander. Shak.
3. A narrow part rising from a broader. Some harrow their ground over, and then plow it upon an edge. Mortimer.
4. Sharpness of mind or appetite; keenness; intenseness or desire; fitness for action or operation; as, the edge of appetite or hunger. Silence and solitude set an edge on the genius. Dryden.
5. Keenness; sharpness; acrimony. Abate the edge of traitors. Shak. To set the teeth on edge, to cause a tingling or grating sensation in the teeth. Bacon.

1. To move sideways; to move gradually. Edge along this way.
2. To sail close to the wind. Dryden. To edge away, in sailing, is to decline gradually from the shore, or from the line of the course. Mar. Dict. To edge in with, to draw near to, as a ship in chasing. Cyc.

1. To sharpen. To edge her champion's sword. Dryden.
2. To furnish with an edge. A sword edged with flint. Dryden.
3. To border; to fringe. A long descending train, / With rubies edged. Dryden.
4. To border; to furnish with an ornamental border; as, to edge a flower-bed with box.
5. To sharpen; to exasperate; to embitter. By such reasonings, the simple were blinded and the malicious edged. Hayward.
6. To incite; to provoke; to urge on; to instigate; that is, to push on as with a sharp point; to goad. Ardor or passion will edge a man forward, when arguments fail. [This, by a strange mistake, has been sometimes written egg, from the Sax. eggian, Dan. egger, to incite; the writers not knowing that this verb is from the noun ecg, eg, an edge. The verb ought certainly to follow the noun, and the popular use is correct.]
7. To move sideways; to move by little and little; as, edge your chair along.

1. The thin cutting side of the blade of an instrument; as, the edge of an ax, knife, sword, or scythe. Hence, figuratively, that which cuts as an edge does, or wounds deeply, etc.
   
   

   He which hath the sharp sword with two edges. Rev. ii. 12.

   Slander,
   Whose edge is sharper than the sword. Shak.

2. To furnish with an edge as a tool or weapon] to sharpen.
   
   

   To edge her champion's sword. Dryden.

3. To move sideways; to move gradually; as, edge along this way.
4. Any sharp terminating border; a margin; a brink; extreme verge; as, the edge of a table, a precipice.
   
   

   Upon the edge of yonder coppice. Shak.

   In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
   Of battle. Milton.

   Pursue even to the very edge of destruction. Sir W. Scott.

5. To shape or dress the edge of, as with a tool.
6. To sail close to the wind.
   
   

   I must edge up on a point of wind. Dryden.

   To edge away or To edge off (Naut.), to increase the distance gradually from the shore, vessel, or other object. -- To edge down (Naut.), to approach by slow degrees, as when a sailing vessel approaches an object in an oblique direction from the windward. -- To edge in, to get in edgewise; to get in by degrees. -- To edge in with, as with a coast or vessel (Naut.), to advance gradually, but not directly, toward it.

7. Sharpness; readiness or fitness to cut; keenness; intenseness of desire.
   
   

   The full edge of our indignation. Sir 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. Jer. Taylor.

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

   Hills whose tops were edged with groves. Pope.

9. The border or part adjacent to the line of division; the beginning or early part; as, in the edge of evening.
   
   
   "On the edge of winter." Milton.

   Edge joint (Carp.), a joint formed by two edges making a corner. -- Edge mill, a crushing or grinding mill in which stones roll around on their edges, on a level circular bed; -- used for ore, and as an oil mill. Called also Chilian mill. -- Edge molding (Arch.), a molding whose section is made up of two curves meeting in an angle. -- Edge plane. (a) (Carp.) A plane for edging boards. (b) (Shoemaking) A plane for edging soles. -- Edge play, a kind of swordplay in which backswords or cutlasses are used, and the edge, rather than the point, is employed. -- Edge rail. (Railroad) (a) A rail set on edge; -- applied to a rail of more depth than width. (b) A guard rail by the side of the main rail at a switch. Knight. -- Edge railway, a railway having the rails set on edge. -- Edge stone, a curbstone. -- Edge tool. (a) Any tool or instrument having a sharp edge intended for cutting. (b) A tool for forming or dressing an edge; an edging tool. -- To be on edge, to be eager, impatient, or anxious. -- To set the teeth on edge, to cause a disagreeable tingling sensation in the teeth, as by bringing acids into contact with them. Bacon.

10. To make sharp or keen, figuratively; to incite; to exasperate; to goad; to urge or egg on.
    
    
    [Obs.]

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

11. To move little by little or cautiously, as by pressing forward edgewise; as, edging their chairs forwards.
    
    
    Locke.