fringe

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A decorative border or edging of hanging threads, cords, or strips, often attached to a separate band.
• noun Something that resembles such a border or edging.
• noun A marginal, peripheral, or secondary part.
• noun Those members of a group or political party holding extreme views.
• noun Any of the light or dark bands produced by the diffraction or interference of light.
• noun A fringe benefit.
• transitive verb To decorate with or as if with a fringe.
• transitive verb To serve as a fringe to.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To decorate with a fringe or fringes, whether by raveling the edge, as of cloth, or by sewing on; border.
• noun An ornamental bordering formed of short lengths of thread, whether loose or twisted, or of twisted cord more or less fine, variously arranged or combined, projecting from the edge of the material ornamented.
• noun Something resembling a fringe; a broken border; any border or edging: as, a fringe of trees around a field, or of shrubs around a garden; a fringe of troops along a line of defense.
• noun Specifically In botany, a border of slender processes or teeth; a fimbria.
• noun In optics, one of the alternate light and dark bands produced by diffraction. See diffraction.
• noun In zoology, a row of closely set, even hairs on a margin; specifically, in entomology, the edging of fine even hairs on the wing of a butterfly or moth.
• noun In photography, a thickened edge of inferior sensitiveness on the pouring-off margin of a sensitized plate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To adorn the edge of with a fringe or as with a fringe.
• transitive verb See Coral reefs, under Coral.
• noun An ornamental appendage to the border of a piece of stuff, originally consisting of the ends of the warp, projecting beyond the woven fabric; but more commonly made separate and sewed on, consisting sometimes of projecting ends, twisted or plaited together, and sometimes of loose threads of wool, silk, or linen, or narrow strips of leather, or the like.
• noun Something resembling in any respect a fringe; a line of objects along a border or edge; a border; an edging; a margin; a confine.
• noun (Opt.) One of a number of light or dark bands, produced by the interference of light; a diffraction band; -- called also interference fringe.
• noun (Bot.) The peristome or fringelike appendage of the capsules of most mosses. See Peristome.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Outside the mainstream.
• noun A decorative border.
• noun A marginal or peripheral part.
• noun Those members of a political party, or any social group, holding unorthodox views.
• noun The periphery of a town or city.
• noun That part of the hair that hangs down above the eyes; bangs.
• noun physics A light or dark band formed by the diffraction of light.
• noun Non-mainstream theatre.
• verb transitive To decorate with fringe.
• verb transitive To serve as a fringe.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun one of the light or dark bands produced by the interference and diffraction of light
• noun the outside boundary or surface of something
• noun a social group holding marginal or extreme views
• noun an ornamental border consisting of short lengths of hanging threads or tassels
• noun a part of the city far removed from the center
• verb decorate with or as if with a surrounding fringe
• verb adorn with a fringe
• noun a border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead