Edge

NOUN

1. a) A thin, sharpened side, as of the blade of a cutting instrument.  b) The degree of sharpness of a cutting blade.  c) A penetrating, incisive quality.  d) A slight but noticeable sharpness or hardness.

2.  Keenness, as of desire or enjoyment; zest.

3.  a) The line of intersection of two surfaces.  b) A rim or brink.  c) The point at which something is likely to begin. 

4.  a) The area or part away from the middle; an extremity.  b) A dividing line; a border.

5.  A margin of superiority; an advantage.

6.  A provocative or discomforting quality, as from audacity or innovativeness.

VERB (tr., intr.)

1.  a) To give an edge to (a blade); sharpen.  b) To tilt (a ski or both skis) in such a way that an edge or both edges bite into the snow.

2.  a) To put a border or edge on.  b) To act as or be an edge of.

3.  To advance or push slightly or gradually.

4.  To trim or shape the edge of.

5.  To move gradually or hesitantly.

Phrasal:

edge out

To surpass or beat by a small margin.

ETYMOLOGY

Middle English egge, from Old English ecg; see ak- in Indo-European roots

IDIOMS

on edge

Highly tense or nervous; irritable.

on the edge

1.  In a precarious position.

2.  In a state of keen excitement, as from danger or risk.

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Edgy

ADJECTIVE

1.  Nervous or irritable.

2.  Having a sharp or biting edge.

3.  Daring, provocative, or trend-setting.

OTHER FORMS

edgier, edgiest, edgily, edginess

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Yes, this is belated.  But this one really got my goat.  The above is a Hollywood adjective that execs and talent alike, to say nothing of the critics, throw around like so many ketchup-sodden french fries.  Don't tell me, dear reader, that you aren't yourself guilty of this.  "It's just not edgy enough."  "I like it.  It's...um...edgy."  "Quentin Tarantino, man--he was really edgy before he sold out."  (He hasn't sold out.  He's just gotten weirder, and Django Unchained is the apotheosis of that weirdness.)  "I'm just not feeling the EDGINESS, man!" 

  I hate to break it to you.  Shakespeare was considered edgy in his day.  He is still edgy (look at Othello, for freak's sake), except now he's been buried under dust, mothballs, and the august halls of learning, yea man!  His contemporary, Kit Marlowe, a straight guy, was so edgy he was accused of homosexuality.  That classical music you've come to hate, but your mother adores to pieces (or vice versa)?  That was edgy, back in the day, especially Mozart, whose audiences just didn't get what he was doing (although the wannabe groupies said they did, but they just had itchy pants, notwithstanding the fact of their Wolfie's marriage to the lovely Constanze Weber).  Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bellini, Donatello, Botticelli?  Edgy.  And da Vinci was indeed a flamboyant homosexual.  (Well, so was Franz Schubert, so is Hans Werner Henze, but that's another ball game altogether.)

  My point is, know what you're doing, and watch where you chuck that word.  Do not use it as you would a sack of potatoes.  Okay, I've said my piece.  Truce?

  Good.