rand

Definition

The border of an area of land, now especially marshland.

Etymology

From Middle English rand, from Old English rand (“edge, border, margin, rim, shore”), from Proto-West Germanic *rand, from Proto-Germanic *randaz, *randō (“edge, rim, crust”), from Proto-Indo-European *rem- (“to rest, prop or support oneself”). Cognate with Dutch rand (“edge, border, outskirts, rim”), German Rand (“edge, border, margin, rim, outskirts”), Swedish rand (“rand, stripe, edge, verge”). Related to rind.

Example Sentences

• "at the wald's rand; the rand of the marsh"
• "Outside the rand or steep edge of this dome the bog is permanently ringed around by a zone liable to base-rich flooding, and this zone, the lagg, carries a persistent fen or carr vegetation."
• "Lagg (1) Marginal zone outside the rand containing fen vegetation and representing the transition between raised bog peat and mineral soils."