on the verge of
close to occurring
TRANSLATION
on the verge of = kurz vor etwas, am Rande vom --- GOOGLE INDEX on the verge: approximately 60,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Team Great Britain are ON THE VERGE OF equalling, and even passing, the number of gold medals won at the Beijing Olympics, with six days of competition still to go. They have eighteen gold medals so far, just one short of the tally four years ago.
(BBC News)
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Lenovo's continuing success story in the Asia-Pacific market also helps to explain why it is ON THE VERGE OF replacing Hewlett-Packard as the world's leading PC vendor.
(sci-tech-today.com)
(BBC News)
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Lenovo's continuing success story in the Asia-Pacific market also helps to explain why it is ON THE VERGE OF replacing Hewlett-Packard as the world's leading PC vendor.
(sci-tech-today.com)
Did you
know?
on the verge
noun phrase
- if you are on the verge of something or come to the verge of something, you are very near to experiencing it
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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The noun "verge" (on the edge or rim of something) originated in the 15th century and was used exactly in this sense. It derived from the Middle French "verge" meaning a rod or a wand of an office and further from the Latin "virga," a rod or a stick. This then led to its use in English to refer to the male sexual organ. In the field of biology, verge is still used to describe the male copulatory organ of any of various invertebrates.
The modern sense of verge stems from the idea of something being within the verge, as in a King's authority for instance. This of course came from the notion of a rod as a symbol of royal authority. The sense eventually shifted to "the edge of an area" and then in a figurative sense of the point at which something occurs.
As a verb, the French "verge" (from the Latin vergere) meant to turn, bend or incline and is still used in English to refer to "moving in a particular direction." This usage led to other words with verge as the root such as:
- converge = to tend toward or approach an intersecting point; to come together (con = together + verge = to bend)
- diverge = to go in different directions (di = apart + verge = to bend)
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SYNONYMS
on the brink, on the cusp, on the edge, on the threshold
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Are E-books putting real books on the verge of extinction?"
noun phrase
- if you are on the verge of something or come to the verge of something, you are very near to experiencing it
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
The noun "verge" (on the edge or rim of something) originated in the 15th century and was used exactly in this sense. It derived from the Middle French "verge" meaning a rod or a wand of an office and further from the Latin "virga," a rod or a stick. This then led to its use in English to refer to the male sexual organ. In the field of biology, verge is still used to describe the male copulatory organ of any of various invertebrates.
The modern sense of verge stems from the idea of something being within the verge, as in a King's authority for instance. This of course came from the notion of a rod as a symbol of royal authority. The sense eventually shifted to "the edge of an area" and then in a figurative sense of the point at which something occurs.
As a verb, the French "verge" (from the Latin vergere) meant to turn, bend or incline and is still used in English to refer to "moving in a particular direction." This usage led to other words with verge as the root such as:
- converge = to tend toward or approach an intersecting point; to come together (con = together + verge = to bend)
- diverge = to go in different directions (di = apart + verge = to bend)
---
SYNONYMS
on the brink, on the cusp, on the edge, on the threshold
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Are E-books putting real books on the verge of extinction?"
