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brink

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brink

  [bringk]
Use brink in a Sentence
–noun
1. the edge or margin of a steep place or of land bordering water.
2. any extreme edge; verge.
3. a crucial or critical point, esp. of a situation or state beyond which success or catastrophe occurs: We were on the brink of war.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME brink < ON (Dan) brink, c. MLG brink edge, hillside, ON brekka slope, hill

Related forms:
brinkless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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brink   (brĭngk)   
n.  

    1. The upper edge of a steep or vertical slope: the brink of a cliff.

    2. The margin of land bordering a body of water.

  2. The point at which something is likely to begin; the verge: "Time and again the monarchs and statesmen of Europe approached the brink of conflict" (W. Bruce Lincoln). See Synonyms at border.


[Middle English, probably of Scandinavian origin .]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

brink 
c.1225, from M.L.G. brink "edge," or Dan. brink "shore, bank, grassy edge," from P.Gmc. *brenkon, prob. from PIE *bhreng-, var. of base *bhren- "project, edge" (cf. Lith. brinkti "to swell"). Brinkmanship (1956) was a Cold War coinage of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, criticizing Sec. of State John Foster Dulles for "boasting of his brinkmanship, ... the art of bringing us to the edge of the nuclear abyss."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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