edged

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of edge.

   The hikers edged along the narrow mountain path.

   The team edged ahead in the final minutes of the match.

   Note

   A regular past form, so one spelling serves both "she edged closer" and "she has edged closer." It carries every meaning of the verb: creeping movement, a narrow win (edged ahead), a cricket stroke off the bat's edge, trimming a lawn. Where it means "furnished with an edge," the participle shades into the adjective for trimmed borders, and a coat edged with fur can be read either way.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having a sharp, flat surface capable of cutting.

   Medieval soldiers trained for years with edged weapons.

   The edged tool left a clean, straight cut in the wood.

   Similarbladed, sharp, cutting

   Oppositeblunt

   Note

   An old and transparent formation: Old English ecged, the noun edge plus -ed, meaning simply "having an edge." Its natural partners are weapons and tools, and edged weapons works as a category word for blades as a class, such as swords, axes and knives. It describes what a thing is built to do, cut, rather than how keen a particular blade happens to be at the moment.

3. 3
   adjective

   Having a border or trim of a particular material, color, or style.

   The invitation cards were edged in delicate silver foil.

   He bought a tablecloth edged with hand-stitched lace.

   Similartrimmed, bordered, fringed, rimmed

   Note

   Two constructions carry this meaning. One adds a phrase with with or in that names the trim: a coat edged with fur, feathers edged with gray. The other is a hyphenated compound naming the kind of edge: a smooth-edged table. On its own, an edged coat sounds unfinished, because the reader is left waiting to hear what the border is made of.

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