confine (kon fin)

[F. conf in, OF. conf in, also confine, Sp. conf in = Pg. confim = It. con fine, also confino and confina (all usually in pl.), L. confine, neut., ML. also conf in is, a border, boundary (cf. L. conf in is, masc., a neighbor, confinium, a border, limit, boundary, neighborhood), Still hovering betweene the confines of that which hee dares not bee openly, and that which he will not be sincerely. Milton , On Def. of Humb. Remonst., Pref. You are old; Nature in you stands upon the very verge Of her confine. Shak ., Lear, ii. 4. Events that came to pa within the confines of Judea. Locke , On Romans, Synopsis. 2. That part of a territory which is at or near the border; der; the frontier: used generally in the plural, and often figuratively: as, the confines of France or of Scotland. And now in little space The confines met of empyréan heaven, And of this world. Milton , P. L., x. 321. 'Twas ebbing darkne , past the noon of night: And Phosphor, on the confines of the light, confirmable