Other forms: borders
A border is the line where one country ends and the next begins. Cross the border, border control, the border guard.
Most were drawn by treaty or by war rather than by geography, which is why so many are straight lines through places that are not. A border is also an edge or a strip: a flower border, a border on a page. As a verb, to border means to lie next to. Note borderline, meaning marginal; and that the word comes from a Frankish word for an edge.
1nounborderThe line where one country ends and the next begins.
“We showed our passports at the border between France and Spain.”
2nounedgeAn edge or decorative strip.
“The tablecloth has a pretty blue border of flowers.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
border is a boundary or edge.
Old French bordeure comes from Frankish bord, an edge or the side of a ship. Board and starboard come from the same edge.
Middle English
bordure
English, today
border
From Middle English bordure. Inherited from Middle English bordure, from Old French bordeure, of gem origin, from Frankish bord, equivalent to modern French bord (“a border”) + -er. Akin to Middle High German borte (“border, trim”), German Borte (“ribbon, trimming”). a doublet of bordure. More at board.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA