selvedge

noun

1. the edge of woven fabric finished so as to prevent raveling, often in a narrow tape effect, different from the body of the fabric.
2. any similar strip or part of surplus material, as at the side of wallpaper.
3. Also called margin. Philately. the surplus paper or margin around a sheet of stamps: The number of the plate block appears in the selvage.
4. a plate or surface through which a bolt of a lock passes.

noun

1. the finished nonfraying edge of a length of woven fabric
2. a similar strip of material allowed in fabricating a metal or plastic article, used esp for handling components during manufacture

n.mid-15c., “edge of web or cloth so finished as to prevent raveling,” apparently literally “its own edge,” a corruption of self + edge (n.); on analogy of Middle Flemish selvegge (cf. also Low German sulfegge; Dutch zelfkant, from kant “border;” Middle High German selbende, German Selbend, literally “self-end”).