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brinkless

 - 2 dictionary results

brink

  [bringk]
Use brinkless 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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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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