[f. FRINGE v. + -ING2.] That fringes. Fringing reef: see quot. 1878.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., xx. (1873), 465. The three great classes of coral-reefs, Atolls, Barrier, and Fringing-reefs.
1878. Huxley, Physiography, xv. 253. Rocky ridges, which fringe a shore in the manner just described, are known as fringing-reefs.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., I. xxiii. 339. The American Constitution … with the mass of fringing decisions which explain it.
1895. Daily News, 26 Aug., 3/2. Its blue sea, and fringing islands.
