What does "border" mean?
Border: A boundary; a frontier of a state or of the settled part of a country; a frontier district.
Additional senses
- 2.A strip or stripe arranged along or near the edge of something, as an ornament or finish.
- 3.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.
- 4.To touch at the edge or boundary; to be contiguous or adjacent; -- with on or upon as, Connecticut borders on Massachusetts.
- 5.To approach; to come near to; to verge. Wit which borders upon profaneness deserves to be branded as folly. Abp. Tillotson.
- 6.To make a border for; to furnish with a border, as for ornament; as, to border a garment or a garden.
- 7.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.
- 8.To confine within bounds; to limit. [Obs.] That nature, which contemns its origin, Can not be bordered certain in itself. Shak.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00