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.
