v. [ad. late L. converg-ĕre (Isidore) to incline together (intr.), f. L. con- together + vergĕre to bend, turn, incline.]
1. intr. ‘To tend to one point from different places’ (J.); to tend to meet in a point; to approach nearer together, as lines do, which meet if produced far enough. The opposite of diverge.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 124. The sides of the Ship converge into an Angle.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Rays coming converging out of a rarer into a denser medium, converge less … than if they had continued their motion through the first medium.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 609. To the south-west … the mountains converge into a single ridge.
1860. Froude, Hist. Eng., VI. 144. Forces from these four points were to converge on London.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 145. In the catchment-basin all the branches converge to the main stream; in the delta they all diverge from the trunk channel.
b. fig. To tend to meet in a common result or point of operation.
1837–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit. (1847), 377. Every circumstance converges to the same effect on the mind.
1858. Gladstone, Homer, III. 341. We find much and varied evidence converging to support the hypothesis.
c. Math. To approximate in the sum of its terms toward a definite limit: see CONVERGING 2.
1796. Hutton, Math. Dict., II. 436. The first series is called a converging one, because that by collecting its terms successively, taking in always one term more, the successive terms approximate or converge to the value or sum of the whole infinite series.
1887. Hall & Knight, Higher Algebra, § 226, note. This series converges very rapidly.
2. trans. To cause (lines or rays) to approach each other; to cause to come together.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), II. 537. The object-glass … and the eye-glass … one to converge the rays collected by the other.
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Art, I. 243. By converging the sun-beams into a narrow compass.
1849. De Quincey, Wks., IV. 304. A central rendezvous for converging them.
1863. Possibilities of Creation, 102. Power of converging the optic.
