verge
Word family nounvergencevergevergency
verge1 /vɜːdʒ $ vɜːrdʒ/ ●○○ noun [countableC] 1 be on the verge of something ALMOSTto be at the point where something is about to happen 濒于…,即将… Jess seemed on the verge of tears. 杰斯似乎差点就要哭了。
an event which left her on the verge of a nervous breakdown 让她几乎精神崩溃的一件事
Mountain gorillas are on the verge of extinction. 山地大猩猩濒临绝种。
be on the verge of doing something The show was on the verge of being canceled due to low ratings. 因为收视率太低,这档节目就要被取消了。
2 British EnglishBrE the edge of a road, path etc 路边,路缘 The car skidded across the road and came to a stop on the grass verge. 汽车滑过路面,在路缘草带上停了下来。
verge2 verb 1 verge on/upon something phrasal verbphr v ALMOSTto be very close to a harmful or extreme state 接近,濒于〔有害或极端的境地〕 Many of Lewis’s activities verged on the illegal. 刘易斯的许多活动近乎违法。
Some of his ideas are verging on the dangerous. 他的有些想法近乎危险。
His love of James Dean movies verged on fanaticism. 他对詹姆斯·迪恩影片的喜爱近乎狂热。
verging on the• But he had a mild, good-humoured, articulate side, verging on the academic, abjuring the sensational.• The Cabinet seemed to him to have a reputation of worthiness verging on the dull.• He was verging on the grotesque.• After overheating in 1989, the market may be verging on the over-cautious today.• This has, in point of fact, always struck me as behaviour verging on the pathological.• The joke is that this louche, style-setting exuberance took place in a conservative town verging on the provincial.• Their desire to play an expansive game is often dangerous, verging on the suicidal. Origin verge1 (1300-1400) Old French “long pole”, from Latin virga; from within the verge “within the area controlled by someone who carried a pole as a sign of authority”