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The border or part adjacent to the line of division; the beginning or early part; as, in the edge of evening. "On the edge of winter." Milton. Edge joint (Carp.), a joint formed by two edges making a corner. -- Edge mill, a crushing or grinding mill in which stones roll around on their edges, on a level circular bed;…

That degree of softness in a body beginning to melt which alters its shape; the first or lowest degree of fusibility.

, pole, road; the end of a year, of a discourse; put an end to pain; -- opposed to Ant: beginning, when used of anything having a first part. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. Eccl. vii. 8.

One who makes an entrance or beginning. A. Seward.

The entering upon; the beginning, or that with which the beginning is made; the commencement; initiation; as, a difficult entrance into business. "Beware of entrance to a quarrel." Shak. St. Augustine, in the entrance of one of his discourses, makes a kind of apology. Hakewill.

In French usage, a dish served at the beginning of dinner to give zest to the appetite; in English usage, a side dish, served with a joint, or between the courses, as a cutlet, scalloped oysters, etc.

The act of entering or passing into or upon; entrance; ingress; hence, beginnings or first attempts; as, the entry of a person into a house or city; the entry of a river into the sea; the entry of air into the blood; an entry upon an undertaking.

The moon's age at the beginning of the calendar year, or the number of days by which the last new moon has preceded the beginning of the year. Annual epact, the excess of the solar year over the lunar year, -- being eleven days. -- Menstrual epact, or Monthly epact, the excess of a calendar month over a lunar.…

A figure by which the same word is used both at the beginning and at the end of a sentence; as, "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Phil. iv. 4.

Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower.

A citation from some author, or a sentence framed for the purpose, placed at the beginning of a work or of its separate divisions; a motto.

sclaimed all ambition to match his pastoral pipe. A. W. Ward. At erst, at first; at the beginning. -- Now at erst, at this present time. Chaucer.

A suffix signifying beginning, beginning to be; as, adolescent, effervescent, etc.

ing; to draw upon and bite with acid, as a plate of metal. I was etching a plate at the beginning of 1875. Hamerton.

Without beginning or end of existence; always existing. The eternal God is thy refuge. Deut. xxxiii. 27. To know wether there were any real being, whose duration has been eternal. Locke.

Infinite duration, without beginning in the past or end in the future; also, duration without end in the future; endless time. The high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity. Is. lvii. 15.

The evening before a holiday, -- from the Jewish mode of reckoning the day as beginning at sunset. not at midnight; as, Christians eve is the evening before Christmas; also, the period immediately preceding some important event. "On the eve of death." Keble. Eve churr (Zoöl), the European goatsucker or nightjar; -- cal…

Beginning of evening. "At the quiet evenfall." Tennyson.

The latter part and close of the day, and the beginning of darkness or night; properly, the decline of the day, or of the sum. In the ascending scale Of heaven, the stars that usher evening rose. Milton.

A beginning; an introduction; especially, the introductory part of a discourse or written composition, which prepares the audience for the main subject; the opening part of an oration. "The exordium of repentance." Jer. Taylor. "Long prefaces and exordiums. " Addison.