selvage

Meaning

Noun

• The edge of a woven fabric, where the weft (side-to-side) threads run around the warp (top to bottom) threads, creating a finished edge.
• Any edge of fabric finished so as to prevent raveling.
• The excess area of any printed or perforated sheet, such as the border on a sheet of postage stamps or the wide margins of an engraving.
• A distinct border of a mass of igneous rock. It is usually fine-grained or glassy due to rapid cooling.
• Clay-like material found along and around a geological fault.
• The edge plate of a lock, through which the bolt passes
• That part of a lode adjacent to the walls on either side.

Origin

• A corruption from early modern Dutch selfegghe (Modern Dutch zelfkant ("selvage")), equivalent to self + edge.