Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Border?

\Bor"der\, n. [OE. bordure, F. bordure, fr. border to border, fr. bord a border; of German origin; cf. MHG. borte border, trimming, G. borte trimming, ribbon; akin to E. board in sense 8. See {Board}, n., and cf. {Bordure}.] 1. The outer part or edge of anything, as of a garment, a garden, etc.; margin; verge; brink. Upon the borders of these solitudes. --Bentham. In the borders of death. --Barrow. 2. A boundary; a frontier of a state or of the settled part of a country; a frontier district. 3. A strip or stripe arranged along or near the edge of something, as an ornament or finish. 4. A narrow flower bed. {Border land}, land on the frontiers of two adjoining countries; debatable land; -- often used figuratively; as, the border land of science. {The Border}, {The Borders}, specifically, the frontier districts of Scotland and England which lie adjacent. {Over the border}, across the boundary line or frontier. Syn: Edge; verge; brink; margin; brim; rim; boundary; confine.
\Bor"der\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Bordered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Bordering}.] 1. To touch at the edge or boundary; to be contiguous or adjacent; -- with on or upon as, Connecticut borders on Massachusetts. 2. To approach; to come near to; to verge. Wit which borders upon profaneness deserves to be branded as folly. --Abp. Tillotson.
\Bor"der\, v. t. 1. To make a border for; to furnish with a border, as for ornament; as, to border a garment or a garden. 2. To be, or to have, contiguous to; to touch, or be touched, as by a border; to be, or to have, near the limits or boundary; as, the region borders a forest, or is bordered on the north by a forest. The country is bordered by a broad tract called the ``hot region.'' --Prescott. Shebah and Raamah . . . border the sea called the Persian gulf. --Sir W. Raleigh. 3. To confine within bounds; to limit. [Obs.] That nature, which contemns its origin, Can not be bordered certain in itself. --Shak.