border

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A part that forms the outer edge of something.
2. n. A decorative strip around the edge of something, such as fabric.
3. n. A strip of ground, as at the edge of a garden or walk, in which ornamental plants or shrubs are planted.
4. n. The line or frontier area separating political divisions or geographic regions; a boundary.
5. v. To put a border on.
6. v. To lie along or adjacent to the border of: Canada borders the United States.
7. v. To lie adjacent to another: The United States borders on Canada.
8. v. To be almost like another in character: an act that borders on heroism.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A side, edge, brink, or margin; a limit or boundary.
2. n. The line which separates one country, state, or province from another; a frontier line or march.
3. n. The district or territory which lies along the edge or boundary-line of a country; the frontier; specifically, in the plural, the marches or border districts: hence, in English and Scottish history, “the borders,” the districts adjoining the line separating the two countries.
4. n. Territory; domain.
5. n. Figuratively, a limit, boundary, or verge; brink: as, he is on the border of threescore; driven by disaster to the border of despair; “in the borders of death,”
6. n. A strip, band, or edging surrounding any general area or plane surface, or placed along its margin, and differing from it by some well-defined character, as in material, color, design, or purpose. A narrow bed or strip of ground in a garden inclosing a portion of it, and generally divided from it by a path or walk.
7. n. In heraldry, the outer edge of the field when of different tincture from the center. Its width is uniform, and should be one fifth the width of the field. French heralds consider the border as one of the ordinaries; in English heraldry it is sometimes a mark of difference. The border always covers the end of any ordinary, as the chevron, fess, etc. When a coat of arms is impaled with another, if either of them has a border, it is not carried along the pale, but surrounds the outside of the field only. The border when charged with an ordinary shows only so much of the ordinary as comes naturally upon that part of the field occupied by the border; thus, the cut represents a border paly of six pieces, azure and argent.
8. n. A plait or braid of hair worn round the forehead.
9. n. In milling, a hoop, rim, or curb about a bedstone or bed-plate, which prevents the meal from falling off except at the proper opening.
10. n. plural The portions of scenery in a theater which hang from above and represent foliage, clouds, beams, etc.
11. Of or pertaining to the border of a country. Specifically— In England and Scotland, of or pertaining to “the borders” of those countries: as, the border barons; border thieves.
12. To make a border about; adorn with a border: as, to border a garment or a garden.
13. To form a border or boundary to.
14. To lie on the border of; be contiguous to; adjoin; lie next.
15. To confine or keep within bounds; limit.
16. To have a contiguous boundary or dividing line; abut exteriorly: with on or upon: as, the United States border on the two great oceans.

Wiktionary

1. n. The outer edge of something.
2. n. A decorative strip around the edge of something.
3. n. A strip of ground in which ornamental plants are grown.
4. n. The line or frontier area separating political or geographical regions.
5. n. UK 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.
6. v. transitive To put a border on something.
7. v. transitive To lie on, or adjacent to a border.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The outer part or edge of anything, as of a garment, a garden, etc.; margin; verge; brink.
2. n. A boundary; a frontier of a state or of the settled part of a country; a frontier district.
3. n. A strip or stripe arranged along or near the edge of something, as an ornament or finish.
4. n. A narrow flower bed.
5. v. To touch at the edge or boundary; to be contiguous or adjacent; -- with on or upon as, Connecticut borders on Massachusetts.
6. v. To approach; to come near to; to verge.
7. v. To make a border for; to furnish with a border, as for ornament.
8. v. 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.
9. v. obsolete To confine within bounds; to limit.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a strip forming the outer edge of something
2. n. a decorative recessed or relieved surface on an edge
3. v. enclose in or as if in a frame
4. v. extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle.
5. n. the boundary of a surface
6. n. the boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary
7. v. form the boundary of; be contiguous to
8. v. provide with a border or edge
9. n. a line that indicates a boundary
10. v. lie adjacent to another or share a boundary