[ad. L. vergĕre to bend, incline, turn. Cf. CONVERGE v., DIVERGE v.]
1. intr. Of the sun: To descend toward the horizon; to sink, or begin to do so. Also transf.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Tr., II. xxv. Yet when he [the sun] verges, or is hardly ris, She [the moon] the vive image of her absent brother is.
1825. Scott, Talism., iii. The light was now verging low, yet served the knight still to discern that they two were no longer alone in the forest.
1890. R. Bridges, Indolence, Poems (1912), 270. The summer day Had verged already on its hot decline.
2. To move in a certain direction (esp. downwards); also, to extend or stretch.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Somerset (1662), 32. Hence forward the Sun of the Kings cause declined, verging more and more Westward, till at last it set in Cornwal.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 59. So Man … Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal.
1775. S. J. Pratt, Liberal Opin., cv. (1783), IV. 6. A tear … still upon the back of my hand, verging to the very finger that [etc.]. Ibid., cxxvi. 149. The higher we climb … the nearer to the gods…: as we verge towards earth … we convolve with the dirt.
1797. Monthly Mag., III. 513/1. Verge not downwards, a precipice lies under the earth.
1822. ‘B. Cornwall,’ Misc. Poems, Hall of Eblis. The pillars … verged away In long innumerable avenues.
1886. Mrs. Hungerford, Lady Branksmere, i. Towards this rather dilapidated apartment they always verge when perplexed.
fig. 1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 430. Learning, once the man’s exclusive pride, Seems verging fast towards the female side.
b. To diverge or deflect; to run or trickle off.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 215. The Epicurean theory, of atoms descending down an infinite space … and verging from the perpendicular no body knows why.
1780. S. J. Pratt, Emma Corbett (ed. 4), II. 74. The tear had verged off, possibly while he was bowing.
3. To incline or tend, to approach or draw near, towards or to some state or condition. Also with advb. complement. (Cf. VERGE v.1 2 b.)
(a) 1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., Apol., 514. Presbytery … that verges nearer toward Populacy or Democracy.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. iv. A man of light wit, verging towards fourscore.
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. lvi. 135. At a time when the people is supposed to have been verging toward utter degeneracy.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, Introd. § 5. 19. The more human knowledge progresses, the more does man … verge towards the infinite.
(b) a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., xvii. Wks. 1686, III. 195. The farther we go on, especially in a bad course, the nearer we verge to the dregs of our life.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 256. Where the Blood verges to the contrary State.
1737. Pope, Lett. to Swift, 23 March. The nearer I find myself verging to that period of life which is to be labour and sorrow.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), IV. Advt. 6. As refinement generally verges to extreme contrarieties.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., Introd. A man whose credit was actually verging to decay.
1844. Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. lxi. 125. When the reign of Demetrius was verging to its close.
1851. Trench, Poems, 14. When I began First to verge upward to a man.
1865. Parkman, France in Amer., ii. (1876), 16. Yet, verging to decay, she [Spain] had an ominous and appalling strength.
(c) 1776. Bentham, Fragm. Govt., iv. Wks. 1843, I. 288/2. It is not that,… or any discourse verging that way, that can tend to give him the smallest satisfaction.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. ii. In such a decadent age, or one fast verging that way.
b. Const. to with inf. rare–1.
1818. Colebrooke, Import Colonial Corn, 45. A country in which capital has accumulated, population become dense,… is necessarily a manufacturing one, or verging to become so.
c. To approximate in shade or tint to a specified color.
1815. Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., IX. I. 87. Plumage nearly black, with a green gloss, which, in some parts, verges to a violet.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 462/2. When large, its colour is dark red, verging to purple.
d. To pass or undergo gradual transition into something else.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., Wks. 1842, I. 57. It is not to make a strong deviation from the line of the neighbouring parts; nor to verge into any exact geometrical figure.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 282/1. The ‘Poultry Chronicle’ is fast verging into a state of monomania.
1858. Mrs. Gore, Heckington, II. xiii. 267. The close and trimly shrubbery verged, after a few hundred yards, into a beautiful copse.
4. To have a particular direction; to lie or extend towards a specified point.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 74/2. A large semicircular area verging to the South.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 557. The flat [boat] always being put in an oblique direction, with its foremost end verging towards the line described by the rope.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IX. 7. Whose rays … Verge to one point and blend for ever there.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 469. Indurated tumour in the left hypochondrium, verging towards the spine.
1828–32. Webster, s.v., A hill verges to the north.
Hence Verging ppl. a., approaching, converging.
1741. H. Brooke, Constantia, Poems (1810), 397/1. Through his foe’s shield the verging weapon press’d, And raz’d the plume that wanton’d on his crest.
1910. Contemp. Rev., March, 339. My sleek limbs cramp in this verging gloom.
