Border

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɔədÉ™/ (Australia)
• RP IPA: /bɔːdÉ™/
• US IPA: /bÉ”rdÉ™r/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)dÉ™(r)
• Homophones: boarder

Origin

Middle English bordure, from Old French bordure, bordeure, from border ("to border"), from bort, bord ("a border"), of origin akin to Middle High German borte ("border, trim"), German Borte ("ribbon, trimming"). More at board.

Full definition of border

Noun

1. The outer edge of something.the borders of the garden
• Benthamupon the borders of these solitudes
• Barrowin the borders of death
2. A decorative strip around the edge of something.
   There's a nice frilly border around the picture frame.
   a solid border around a table of figures
3. A strip of ground in which ornamental plants are grown.
4. The line or frontier area separating political or geographical regions.
• 2013, Nicholas Watt and Nick Hopkins, Afghanistan bomb: UK to 'look carefully' at use of vehicles(in The Guardian, 1 May 2013)The Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday the men had been killed on Tuesday in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province, on the border of Kandahar just north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
5. The border between Canada and USA is the longest in the world.
6. (British) Short form of border morris or border dancing; a vigorous style of traditional English dance originating from villages along the border between England and Wales, performed by a team of dancers usually with their faces disguised with black makeup.

Derived terms

• borderlinking
• borderspace, borderspacing

Verb

1. (transitive) To put a border on something.
2. (transitive) To lie on, or adjacent to a border.Denmark borders Germany to the south.
3. (intransitive) To touch at a border (with on or upon).Connecticut borders on Massachusetts.
4. (intransitive) To approach; to come near to; to verge.
• Archbishop TillotsonWit which borders upon profaneness deserves to be branded as folly.

Derived terms

• border on
• cross-border