fringe

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
fringe/frɪnʤ/

▶noun

• 1 a border of threads, tassels, or twists, used to edge clothing or material.

• 2 chiefly Brit. the front part of someone's hair, cut so as to hang over the forehead.

  ■ a natural border of hair or fibres in an animal or plant.

• 3 the outer or marginal part of something.

  ■ [as modifier] not part of the mainstream; unconventional: fringe theatre.

• 4 a band of contrasting brightness or darkness produced by diffraction or interference of light.

  ■ a strip of false colour in an optical image.

• 5 US short for fringe benefit.

▶verb provide with or form a fringe.

– derivatives
fringeless adjective,
fringing noun,
fringy adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. frenge, based on late L. fimbria, earlier a pl. noun meaning ‘fibres, shreds’.