Other forms: boundaries
A boundary is the line where one area ends and another begins. A fence, a stream, or a line only on a map.
Geography and law use it constantly, so a parish boundary and a boundary dispute are both standard, and boundary disputes between neighbours are famous for their bitterness. Cricket has its own precise sense, since the boundary is the rope round the edge and hitting one scores four or six. The figurative use is about limits, and pushing the boundaries means going further than has been done before.
1nounboundaryA line marking the limit of an area.
“The hedge marks the boundary between the two farms.”
2nouncricketIn cricket, the edge of the field, or a shot that reaches it.
“He hit the first ball for a boundary.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Old English
bund-
Middle English
bound
English
bound
English, today
boundary
From bound + -ary. Semantically displaced native Old English mearc (“boundary, limit”) whence Modern English mark. bound comes from Middle English bound, bund and bounden, bunden, ibunden, ȝebunden, from Old English bund- and bunden, ġebunden respectively. See bind.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA