Obs. [var. of VERGE sb.1, after L. virga.]
1. = VERGE sb.1 10.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 20 § 7. Within the virge lymited and accustumed to his Graces Courte.
1596. Bacon, Max. & Use Com. Law, II. (1635), 5. Controversies arising within the Virge. Which is within xii. miles of the chiefest Tunnell of the Court.
1671. F. Philipps, Reg. Necess., Table. The Kings granting Protections under the Great Seal of England to such as are his Servants … when especially imployed by him … out of his Palace or Virge thereof.
b. transf. = VERGE sb.1 12.
a. 1639. T. Carew, Poems, To Ben Jonson, 48. Thou art not of their ranke, the quarrell lyes Within thine owne virge.
1671. F. Philipps, Reg. Necess., 385. Within the Virge and compass of loyalty and modesty.
2. A rod or wand; esp. a rod of office.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., II. lvi. A hundred Kings, whose temples wear impal’d In goulden diadems,… And of their golden virges none disceptred wear.
a. 1646. M. Prideaux, Introd. Hist. (1648), 102. Hadrian the second … kept a greate stirre to bring the Bulgarians under his virge.
a. 1668. Davenant, Poems (1672), 230. Therefore my Robe, that in his Altar lay, My Virge, my Wreath, I took; and thus did pray.
1727. Swift, Horace, I. Ep. vii. 97. Suppose him now a dean complete…, The silver virge, with decent pride, Stuck underneath his cushion side.
b. = VERGE sb.1 4 b.
1635. Calthrope, Relat. betw. Lord & Copy-holder, 51. Although some bee called Coppy-holders, some Customary, some Tenants by the Virg [sic],… yet doe they all agree in substance and kinde of Tenure.
3. = VERGE sb.1 9 b.
1688. [see VIRGATE sb. 1].
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v. Yard-Land, In the Statute of Wards, An. 28, E. 1, it is call’d a Virge of Land.
4. = VERGE sb.1 1 a.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 252. They suffer also vomiting with a spasme or crampe, and inflamation of the virge.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., IV. v. 177. Many of these Apes fell by our hands;… opening them I found … their seminary Vessels turgid, their Virge White and Nervous.
