Dictionary

fringer en · NOUN

Etymology

From fringe + -er.

Meanings

1. A person who makes fringes for garments
2. (qualifier:scrapbooks) A device for making paper fringes
3. One who attends Fringe theater festival (e.g., the Edinburgh Fringe festival)
4. A person on the fringe of anything; e.g. a crowd, or society in general
   • 2001, R Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0807849138&id=2pyqgupHqtgC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&sig=Vr_AWP7zbnxHpFuxcI1HXOJ9pqo These fringers are distinguished from mainstreamers by their lack of exposure to, or interest in, Jacobitism and Highlandism.
   • In any gathering there are always those at the fringe of the crowd where they can creep away when the message goes against their liking. You might call them fringers. 2001, Leslie A Turvey in Blessed Are They Which Are Persecuted, March 25, 2001
   • The region was remote; the early explorers were pirates, fugitives and fringers, followed by miscellaneous settlers, to the effect that Camberwell had been inhabited for many thousands of years. 1998, Jack Vance, Night Lamp http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0312864728&id=fEfpyaadd7cC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&sig=6m1yzALlxahLdw7yucMb6umOn-4
   • 2001, Orson Scott Card, The Folk of the Fringe http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0312876637&id=WycRLdcQL1EC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&sig=0bsLGgglyoCuT5BWsVFGcy2FG5g If at any point a fringer fails to plant, if at any point the soil is broken, then the rains eat channels under it, and tear away the fringe on either side, and eat back into farmland behind it.

Forms